
| LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

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6 



THE 

"^WANDERINGS 

OF 

THE HUMAN INTELLECT ; 

OR, 

A NEW DICTIONARY 

OF . 

THE VARIOUS SECTS 

INTO WHICH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, IN ANCIENT AND 
IN MODERN TIMES, HAS BEEN DIVIDED; 

WITH 

AN IMPARTIAL DISCUSSION 

OF THE MERITS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE CLAIMS TO 
ORTHODOXY. 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, 

AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 

ON UNIVERSAL HISTORY, AS WELL CIVIL AS ECCLESIASTIC, 

FROM THE MUCH-ADMIRED HISTORICAL DISCOURSE OF 

THE LEARNED DR PLUQUET, 

In front of his valuable Dictionary of all Religions ; from which, and 
from other equally respectable Sources, the present Work 
is chiefly compiled. 



BY THE REV. JOHN V BELL. 



" Try the Spirits"— I John, iv. 1. 

" Prove all things : hold that which is good" — I Thess. v. 21.. / 

NEWCASTLE : 

PRINTED BY EDWARD WALKER, PILGRIM- STREET. • 

.OLD BY MESSRS RIVINGTON, ST PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, BOOKER, NEW BOND- 
STREET, AND KEATING AND CO. DUKE-STREET, GROSYENOR-SQUARE, 
LONDON J BELCHER AND EON, AND WILKS, BIRMINGHAM j 
TODD, YORK ; BELL, AND CHARNLEY, NEWCASTLE; 
SHARROCK, PRESTON \ AND SYERS, 
MANCHESTER, 

1814. 



PREFACE. 



Religious knowledge is, confessedly, of all other 
sciences, the most important. Important individually 
to each member of society, and equally important to 
the well-being of society at large. Whatever, therefore, 
has a tendency to promote this knowledge, and to widen 
its diffusion, is certainly entitled to the patronage of the 
public, and to the notice and, I had almost said, the 
gratitude too, of individuals. Of this description, the 
Editor presumes to flatter himself, the compilation 
now presented to the community will be deemed to 
partake. In it, moreover, will be found abundant 
matter to gratify, if not to satiate, a laudable curiosi- 
ty — in the investigation of the various principles, as 
well moral as religious, of our fellow mortals, — and 
in ascertaining, in many instances, the leading causes 
of those astonishing revolutions in church or state, 
that have contributed to diversify each epoch of 
profane or ecclesiastic history. It does not, indeed, 
possess the merit of originality ; but the method, as 
far as the Editor has been enabled to discover, is 
novel to the English press, and calculated, in his 
judgment, to improve and interest the generality of 

a 2 



IV 



his readers. It is needless to premise, that he has no 
pretensions to infallibility : consequently, he acknow- 
ledges himself liable to oversights, and sometimes 
too, perhaps, to defective reasoning. This he leaves 
to the enlightened public to discriminate : but as he 
is conscious he has done his best, he will not pledge 
himself to do away the supercilious exceptions of il- 
liberal and self-conceited critics; of whose infallibility 
he thinks no better than of his own. If the tout en- 
semble of this performance -will not furnish adequate 
materials to answer their objections in a religious view, 
and to operate conviction on their minds, he owns 
himself unequal to the arduous task, and, not to 
fatigue the attention of the reader with unmeaning 
verbiage-^- Verbum non amplius addet. 

He will only request permission just to observe, 
that the advantages of an alphabetical arrangement of 
the respective articles constituting this work, are too 
obvious to require a detail ; and will leave it to its 
fate — without further comment on its utility or merit. 
The historical analysis prefixed — must, likewise, be 
content to speak its own panegyric. 



EPITOME 

OF 

UNIVERSAL HISTORY. 



IN TWO PARTS. 



PART I. 



Embraces a period of full four thousand years, from the creation 
of man to the establishment of Christianity by Christ our Lord. 

CHAPTER I. 

Of the antediluvian state of mankind. 

Ancient Atheistical writers have pretended that men, like 
mushrooms, sprang spontaneously from the earth, and owed 
their origin to chance ; while modern materialists very gravely 
inform us, that their primordial existence was a necessary effect 
of we know not what mysterious arrangement in their beloved 
chaos ; and some learned naturalists have as wisely calculated 
and ascertained the different epochs, wherein the primeval ele- 
ments of nature severally concurred in the formation of the 
universe, — without, however, condescending to acquaint us — by 
what mysterious influence mankind, or the animal species, or 
the vegetable world, could start forth from a globe of chrystal, 
all on fire (no matter how) from eternity. Certainly these 
gentlemen have each of them the merit of eccentricity. But 
their sublime theories will not bear the light ; they quickly dis- 
appear when confronted with the simple and unaffected nar- 
rative of the sacred historiographer of the book of Genesis. 
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. He said 9 
let light be made, and light was. made. And again he said : 
let us make man to our own image and likeness ; and God 
created man to his own image. ' By these few words we learn 
our origin j what we owe to God and to ourselves, and what 
we are to hope from the bounty of our great Creator. 

A 



Is then God corporeal like man, as the Marcionites of ald 9 
the Manichees, the philosophers of the fourth age, and the 
infidels of the eighteenth, with those of the present day, erro- 
neously infer ? By no means : the principal and the most 
noble part of man is the soul. This soul is gifted with under- 
standing, — with a will and memory, and liberty of action; is 
capable of knowing, of loving, and adoring her Creator. la 
this it is* that man is like to God. 

Another fruitful subject of profane cavil and irreligious witti- 
cism, unworthy any serious reply, are the circumstances which, 
according to holy scripture, attended the formation of the 
female. We will just observe, that these very circumstances 
teach mankind a lesson of the highest importance to their wel- 
fare, God would thus remind the female of the superiority of 
man, since she was formed of him ; and man, of that tender 
affection which he was bound to cherish for one who con- 
stitutes a part of his own substance : and both the one and the 
other, of their obligation mutually to preserve the strictest 
union, on which alike depends their own well-being, and that 
of their posterity. 

What then would be the state of these two creatures at the 
moment of their production ; what their felicity before they for- 
feited their innocence ; and what would have been their future 
destiny and that of their posterity, had neither the one nor the 
other of them fallen into sin ? These are queries very interest- 
ing, but concerning which holy scripture has explained itself 
with much reserve. It informs us that God created man in 
righteousness and injustice, (Eccles. c. vii. v. SO. Ephes. c. iv. v. 
24) ; consequently, not merely exempt from vice, but endowed, 
moreover, with sanctifying grace, whicli rendered him agreeable 
in the eyes of his Divine Majesty. It informs us too, that man 
was created immortal, at least in this sense, that he had it in his 
power to escape death by avoiding sin; death having entered 
into the world by sin only, and the malice of the devil, (Rom. c. 
v. v. 12. Wisd. c. ii. v. 24.) We are likewise given to under- 
stand (Ecclus. c. xvii. v. 6.) that God had been pleased to com- 
municate to our first parents the science of the spirit. He filled 
their heart with wisdom and shewed them both good and evil. 
Hence it follows that the state of the first man, previous to his 
fall, was a state of great felicity, although his happines was not 
complete, in as much as he was liable to forfeit by disobedience 
that original justice in which he was created, together with all 
the gifts and privileges annexed to it. A more consummate 
beatitude was destined to be the fruit of his voluntary and unneces- 
sitated perseverance in good. How long this probationary state 
of our first parent might have continued, in order to his perfect 
confirmation in justice and inamissibility of grace, the Holy 
Spirit has not thought good to reveal to men. Had he perse- 



vered in fact, his offspring would have enjoyed the prerogative 
of original justice in which he was himself created ; each indivi- 
dual of his posterity, would perhaps, like him have been subjected 
to temporary laws, exposed to the danger of violating them, and 
of forfeiting as he did, all the privileges of innocence. This is the 
opinion of the learned Estius, and of the great St Augustine, 1. 2. 
Sentent. Disk 20, §. 5. 

On a variety of other questions regarding which holy scrip- 
ture is silent, let us beware of imitating the rash curiosity of our 
proto-parent Adam ; nor presumptuously approach the tree of 
knowledge in quest of a forbidden fruit. But, why, cries mo- 
dern incredulity with the ancient Manichees, — why impose a law 
on man, and lay on him an injunction which God foresaw that 
he would disobey ? I answer : because man being created a free 
agent, he had it at his option to obey, and strictly owed obedi- 
ence to his great Creator. It is by free will, as much as by his 
understanding, that he is distinguished from the brute : and Al- 
mighty God most justly required of him a testimony of submis- 
sion, in acknowledgment of the benefit of life, and other blessings 
conferred upon him ; and in conformity with the universally esta- 
blished dispensations of Providence it is expedient, that the per- 
fect happiness of his creatures should not be a gift in all respects 
absolutely gratuitous, but a reeompence too, awarded to obe- 
dience and virtue. Nor ought the foresight which God had of 
the prevarication of Adam, in any wise to derogate from this 
eternal and infinitely wise and equitable dispensation. 

When infidels also take offence, that God should have prohi- 
bited the eating of the fruit which was to impart the knowledge 
of good and evil, they affect — not to understand what kind of 
knowledge is here in question. Adam possessed already the 
knowledge of moral good and evil, as we learn from sacred writ, 
(Eccles. c. xvii. v. 6.) He would else have been as incapable of 
sinning, as the infant that has not yet attained the use of reason. 
But he had not the knowledge of physical evil, which he had ne- 
ver yet experienced. He had no idea of that confusion and re- 
morse attendant upon guilt. After his sin he was made sensible 
of both, and was thus enabled to compare— happiness with misery 
and grief: such was the experimental knowledge, from which 
Almighty God in his goodness was wishful to preserve him. 
In this sense alone could the eating of the forbidden fruit com- 
municate to man the knowledge of good and evil. 

Nor was it inconsistent with justice in Almighty God to 
make Adam the arbiter of the fate of his posterity. It is the 
natural condition of humanity ; and such too, is the general 
order established in every political society. A father, by his 
personal bad conduct, may reduce to a state of wretchedness 
whole generations of his offspring. He has it in his power, by 
the perpetration of a single crime, to entail disgrace upon them 

a2 



all; and, where slavery is permitted by the law of the land, by 
bartering his own liberty, to condemn his innocent posterity 
to servitude. The good of society at large often seems to re- 
quire such economy, in order thus to inspire parents with a 
greater horror of crimes — so big with fatal consequences to the 
interests of their children ; and children, in their turn, with 
gratitude to a parent, who, by his irreproachable demeanour, 
has placed them beyond the reach of such vexatious circum- 
stances. 

The sacred historian has again incurred the jeering sarcasms 
of profane cavillers — in relating how Eve was tempted, and the 
melancholy result of her prevarication. To these wise spe- 
culatists, the narrative appears, in many instances, absurd. 
First,— they do not conceive the serpent to be more sagacious 
than the rest of his fellow-animals, nor how he could enter 
into conversation with Eve, or be said to be accursed more than 
other reptiles like himself. — With respect to the superior saga- 
city of the serpent, we are not sufficiently acquainted with the 
serpentinian species, to pronounce how far precisely it may 
extend : the extraordinary facts authentically recorded of some 
other animals, appear at first not less fictitious and incredible. 
Doubtless, the wicked spirit may have been permitted to con- 
verse with Eve through the organ of the serpent ; and Eve, 
very possibly, had not yet experience enough to know whether 
an animal were naturally capable, or altogether incapable of 
speech. 

That there exists a great variety of this species of creatures, 
is a fact well known to naturalists, and to travellers : some — 
winged and extremely beautiful, which, like the feathered race, 
can waft themselves with great facility through the air. Con- 
sequently it is not certain, that some which now crawl upon the 
ground, did so originally ; nor whether the serpent spoken of 
in the book of Genesis might not belong to the latter class. 
Again, we are not sure that none among the different species of 
serpents actually eat earth for their food ; were this a fact, it 
would sufficiently verify the malediction pronounced against 
that species for tempting Eve to sin. 

A thousand other idle exceptions might be started against 
the authority of the word of God, which merit no reply. But 
then, was not the chastisement of Adam's disobedience too 
severe ? We can only here remark, that it is absurd to judge of 
the grievousness of a fault by any other criterion than by the 
greatness of its punishment on the part of God. Besides, 
the miseries of this life, and even concupiscence itself, are ap- 
pendages of our very nature : the exemption from death ; the 
perfect subordination of the flesh to the spirit, were privileges 
by no means due to our first parents ; and of course Almighty 
God, with perfect justice, could deprive them and their pos- 



terity of these prerogatives, in consequence of their guilt. Nor is 
it an article of faith, that infants who have died under the guilt of 
original sin are doomed to suffer torments in the world to come. 
They will not enter, it is true, into the kingdom of God ; 
(John hi. 5.) but we are not informed by holy writ whether or 
not they shall be destined to a place of punishment. This is 
a point left undecided by the church. Our personal crimes 
indeed, will subject us to the most dreadful chastisement ; but 
then these are voluntary and by our free choice, and not entail- 
ed on us by Adam. Finally, when we speak of Adam's fall, 
and the punishment which followed his transgression, we must 
not lose sight of the glorious reparation made by our divine Re- 
deemer Jesus Christ. The fathers of the church here remind us 
in the first place, that the promise of a Redeemer was as ancient 
as the fall of man. Previously to his condemnation to sufferings 
and to death, Almighty God had pronounced already his male- 
dictions against the serpent, and had said to him — the seed of 
the "woman shall bruise thy head. In virtue of this promise, 
say the holy fathers, and of the merits of the Redeemer, Adam 
and his posterity were sentenced only to a temporary punish- 
ment ; and thus did the future redemption begin to operate 
its effect from the very instant it was first announced. They 
represent to us in the second place, that sufferings and death 
are the expiation of sin, and a subject of merit through the 
passion of our Divine Saviour; whence they conclude that, 
under this view, even the condemnation of man w r as an act of 
clemency on the part of God ; Jesus Christ, according to the 
apostle, having converted the bitterness of death into a subject 
of real triumph, in the assured prospect of a glorious resurrec- 
tion unto life — with Him, and after his divine example. (1 Cor. 
xv. v. 54, 55.) 

They observe, moreover, that the grace so plentifully diffused 
by Jesus Christ renders us victorious over our concupiscence; 
that by this conflict virtue becomes more meritorious, and is 
made worthy of a recompence equal with that originally de- 
signed for our first parents. By so many different considera- 
tions do the ancient fathers make us understand — the high dignity 
to which our nature has been elevated by its union with the di- 
vine Word. The greatness of the evil of sin they endeavour to 
demonstrate — by the powerfulness of the antidote deemed neees<» 
sary in order to its cure. 

According to sacred writ, Adam's penitential course was very 
long: he lived nine hundred and thirty years, (Gen. c. v. v. 5.) 
This long life Almighty God was pleased to grant him, in order 
the more easily to perpetuate among his descendants, the tradition 
of those grand truths to which he himself was qualified to give 
the strongest attestation, as having received them personally from 
his Maker : and could mankind desire an instructor more vene- 



Table, or more worthy their attention ? But — without that pro- 
mise of his merciful Creator, respecting the Redeemer to be re- 
vealed in future ages, Adam must oft have fieen exposed to the 
temptation of despair, upon witnessing the frightful evils of every 
description, which his sin had unfortunately entailed upon man- 
kind. None, however, among the fathers of the church, have 
ever entertained a doubt of his salvation : all without exception 
were persuaded, that this inestimable blessing was secured to him 
by our common mediator Jesus Christ. 

But, not to exceed too much our intended brevity by indulging 
in theological discussion, we will now simply recapitulate the re- 
cital of that most ancient and divinely inspired writer Moses. 
This venerable historian informs us, that an All- Powerful Intelli- 
gence created heaven and earth, and all things which they con- 
tain ; and that this Supreme Being enlightened man, became 
his legislator, and proposed to him rewards and punishments of 
his good or evil actions. He tells us, that unhappy man trans- 
gressed the laws which had been thus enjoined him ; relates the 
dreadful sentence denounced against him by the Almighty, and 
entailed upon the entire human race individually ; recounts the 
disorders of his late posterity ; and the severe chastisement of 
their irregularities by the universal flood, which engulphed the 
whole earth beneath its raging billows, and overwhelmed in one 
vast ruin all the inhabitants of the globe, with the exception only, 
of faithful Noe and his family. This sad catastrophe took place 
in the year of the creation 1656. For a more detailed account 
we beg leave to refer our readers to the book of Genesis. 



CHAPTER II. 

Of the restoration of the human race after the universal food. 

Scarcely had the waters of the universal deluge well subsided, 
when again all flesh began to corrupt its ways. Already the 
Chaldeans, like almost every other nation of the earth, had 
abandoned themselves to idol worship, before the lapse of four 
hundred and twenty-six years from the flood, when Almighty 
God caused Abraham to quit his native country, and to fix 
his residence in the land of Canaan. Here, he was pleased to 
make a covenant or alliance with this patriarch, by which he 
promised to give to his posterity the territory he then inhabited $ 
and this same promise he confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob, 
Abraham's son and grandson. (Gen. xii. Deut. vi.) 

A series of events, directed by the hand of Providence, con- 
ducted Jacob and his family into Egypt, where the patriarch, 
on his death-bed, predicted to his children their various des- 



iinies in future ages ; announced the distant coming of the great 
Messiah ; marked his distinctive characters, and declared that 
the sceptre should not depart from the tribe of Juda, until 
this promised Saviour of mankind should come to dwell 



amongst us. 



CHAPTER IIL 

Tie miraculous deliverance of the Hebrew people from their 
Egyptian bondage, and the promulgation of the decalogue. 

In Egypt, the children of Jacob multiplied exceedingly ; 
till the jealousy of that idolatrous people reduced them to a 
state of the most cruel bondage. To effect their deliverance, 
Almighty God employed the most stupendous miracles. He 
became himself their law-giver, and reconducted them, as it 
were by the hand, into the land of promise. Here the Hebrew 
people formed a society, which had no resemblance nor con- 
nection with any other nation of the globe, — to render to the Su- 
preme Being a true and legitimate worship, grounded upon 
the following principles : — 

There is but one only God, who created heaven and earth, and 
who governeth all things by his providence : he alone is worthy 
of our love; he alone, above all other objects, is to be revered, 
and his holy name held in supreme veneration. He behokleth 
all things, even the inmost secrets of the heart : he is good, and 
merciful, and just. Man he hath created in a state of liberty, 
and hath left to him the free and un-necessitated choice of good 
or evil. It is the duty of man to receive with gratitude, all 
kinds of blessings, as coming from the hand of God ; and all 
calamities with submission, as paternal chastisements, or as cer- 
tain tests of his fidelity. But, although Almighty God is mer- 
ciful and good, the Hebrew people must not flatter themselves 
with the hopes of impunity, or of seeing an end of the evils 
brought upon them by their disorders, without a sincere sorrow 
for their crimes. 

Such was the religion, such the sublime morality of the Jew- 
ish nation; a people without arts or sciences, and in every 
other respect ignorant and rude ; while the most polished nations 
of the universe, with all their boasted skill in literature and the 
polite arts, lay engulphed in impenetrable darkness, as to the 
existence and the nature of a Supreme Being, the true origin of 
things, and the destiny of man ! 

To the most exalted ideas, the Hebrew people joined hopes 
the most magnificent and elevated. They were taught to believe, 
that — of the tribe and family of King David, would be born a 
Saviour, destined to deliver them from all their evils, and to 



bring the entire human race to the knowledge of the true and 
living God. (Gen. xlix. v. 10. Kings 2. c. vii. v. 12. Ps. 
xxi. v. Is. xi. 8, 10. Ezech. xxxiv. v. 23.) 

The religion, however, of this cherished nation, did not con- 
sist in the bare profession of these grand truths ; it had its pecu- 
liar rites, its ceremonies, and its sacrifices ; its holocausts, puri- 
fications and expiatory observances. It prescribed laws admira- 
bly calculated to promote social intercourse, and the happiness 
of the people : in a word, every thing in church and state was 
here divine, because the Deity himself was the immediate au- 
thor — not less of their political, than he was of their religious 
institutions. The observance of the laws which God had pre- 
scribed, was followed with sensible and speedy recompence, be- 
sides the consoling prospect of future reward in a better world. 
At the head of the church presided a sovereign pontiff whose lips 
were the repositories of wisdom and truth ; before his breast 
were suspended the Urim and the Thurim, through the me- 
dium of which Almighty God thought fit to deliver his sacred 
oracles to men* 

The Jewish nation, enclosed within its mountains, and pre- 
cluded from every species of connection with idolaters by its le- 
gislative code, seemed destined to preserve its religion unaltered 
and unimpaired : every thing that could bear reference to reli- 
gion, to morality, to social life, — was carefully inculcated to the 
people from their infancy, and diligently explained by the pro- 
phets or the Levites, each Sabbath day, and on all the solemn 
festivals : a frightful portrait was depicted on these occasions, of 
the mythology of other nations ; and they were prohibited, under 
the severest penalties, to receive from them their education in 
polite literature and the sciences. Their place of worship was 
confined to one single city, and to one temple only, which was 
the common centre of religion. The uninterrupted succession of 
the priesthood ; the continual attention of the ministers in their 
various sacrifices of victims ; the general obligation imposed up- 
on all — of offering their children in the temple, and of attending 
there personally every year, in order to their purification, were 
means well adapted to perpetuate among the Jews the religion of 
their ancestors. All these precautions, however, proved insuffi- 
cient to prevent its corruption ; and at Jerusalem itself were seen 
idolatrous kings, and even the very ministers of God, profaning 
the temple and religion with the motley worship of false divini- 
ties, in conjunction with the Supreme Being. 

The Almighty, thus provoked, withdraws his protection from 
this infidel race ; and Jerusalem falls a prey to the Assyrians. 
The furious conquerors dismantle the city, level its venerable 
temple with the ground, and lead away the captive Jews to Baby- 
lon. After a long and tedious captivity, they are suffered to re- 
turn, and to re-build their city and their temple. When Alexander 
he Great had conquered Asia, vast numbers of the Jews passed 



into Egypt, and settled at Alexandria under this conqueror and 
his successors, who granted them the privileges enjoyed by the 
Macedonians, and the unrestricted exercise of their own 
religion. 

Length of time insensibly unbraced those ties which had 
attached the Jewish people to their country, and gradually 
enfeebled their respect for the law of Moses, and their aversion 
for infidelity. There went out of Israel wicked men ; and they 
persuaded many ; saying : Let us go and make a covenant with 
the heathens that are round about us : for since we departed from 
them, many evils have befallen us. And the word seemed good in 
their eyes. And some from among the people went to the king : 
and he gave them licence to live after the manner of the heathens. 
And t) hey built a place of exercise at Jerusalem , according to the 
custom of the gentiles. 

The priests themselves were not now occupied about the offices of 
the altar ; but despising the temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, 
they hastened to be partakers of the public shows ,• contemning 
what was most honourable with their fathers. (1. 1. c. 1. Mach.) 
In a word, to such a height of frenzy did they carry their 
impiety, that they affected in all things to imitate the infidels, 
and to resemble in their whole demeanour the mortal enemies of 
their country and religion. (Ibid. v. 16.) 



CHAPTER IV. 

Of the various sects into which the Jewish people were, in latter 
times, divided. 

From this degrading epoch, the Jews began to fritter into 
sects. The Pharisees maintained, that Almighty God, in 
addition to the law given on Mount Sinai, had prescribed an 
infinite number of rites and dogmas, which Moses had trans- 
mitted to posterity without committing them to writing ; and, 
along with such traditions as were true, they intermingled a 
variety of ridiculous fables, false notions, and erroneous princi- 
ples, borrowed from the equally fallacious maxims of pagan 
philosophy. Thus they corrupted the doctrine of the law. 
Josephus the historian informs us, that they ascribed all con- 
tingencies to an over-ruling destiny, although, at the same time, 
they very inconsistently allowed free will to man ; because, said 
they, such had been the divine pleasure. They left to him the 
uncontrolled election of virtue, or of vice, still maintaining that 
all things happen in consequence of some necessitating decree or 
dispensation of the Supreme Being. They held, that the souls 
of the wicked, after death, were confined in dungeons, and that 
they suffered eternal punishment ; while those of the good were 



10 

restored to life, and entered into bodies, different from those 
which they had animated heretofore. It would be endless to 
detail, irt full, all their visionary traditions : they are the subject 
of no less than two and thirty volumes in folio, which compose 
what is called the Talmud. 

In the Talmud are distinguished seven different orders of 
Pharisees. One of these orders, in their obedience to the law, 
had in view only worldly profit and earthly glory : another 
made perfection to consist in dragging their feet along the 
ground in the act of walking ; a third, in beating violently their 
heads against a wall, so as to stain it with their blood ; a fourth, 
in wearing a hood upon their head ; a fifth, in crying out with 
much ostentation, ' show me what I am to do, and I will do it ; 
or rather what is there that I have not done already' ? The 
sixth order observed the law through a love of virtue and hope 
of recompence ; but the seventh, for fear of punishment and 
the wrath of God. 

Ail of them recited long prayers, and refused themselves even 
necessary repose. They hung their head as they walked along, 
fearing lest otherwise they should touch the feet of the Divinity, 
which they superstitiously imagined not more than four feet 
elevated above the ground ; and, in order to appear in the eyes 
of the people solely occupied with the things above, they sewed 
to their garments the philacteria or fillets, on which were written 
certain sentences of the law, wore by them in order to distinguish 
them from the vulgar Jews. They practised more frequent ab- 
lutions than their neighbours, to show their extreme desire of 
perfect purity. Their zeal for proselytism was ardent and inde- 
fatigable ; and this zeal, added to the severity of their mortifi- 
cations, gave the people a high idea of their sanctity : the deno- 
mination of sage was appropriated to them by way of excellence. 
They kept their disciples in a kind of subjection little short of 
servitude, and regulated every thing appertaining to religion with 
absolute authority. Boundless was their influence over the minds 
of the populace, and of the female kind ; and they put in motion 
at their pleasure the stormy billows of popular insurrection, and 
became formidable even to their kings. Such were the men 
censured with peculiar severity in the gospels by our blessed Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ. 

The Sadducees, in the opposite extreme, rejected the tradi- 
tions of the ancients, and, like our modern Caraites, would abide 
by nothing but the written word. In unison with this principle, 
they expounded the books of Moses according to their strict and 
literal acceptation ; believed that the universe was the work of 
the Almighty, and that he continues to govern it by his provi- 
dence; that he had wrought an infinite number of prodigies in 
favour of the Hebrew people, and in establishing its police had 
decreed rewards and punishments : but these penalties and these 



11 

recompences they believed to be purely temporal, and confined 
within the limits of the present life. These Jews, strictly attach- 
ed to the bare letter of the law, could discover nothing in the 
writings of Moses, which taught in express terms, that the soul 
would survive the dissolution of the body ; and, as they were 
enemies to all traditionary doctrine, they of course denied the 
immortality of the soul. This error of the Sadducees was not, 
perhaps, universally maintained by all who affected to adhere to 
the letter of the law : although their implacable enemies the 
Pharisees, imputed it to the entire sect without exception, in or- 
der to render them the more t>dious, or, it may be, because 
they deemed it a consequence naturally flowing from their prin- 
ciples relative to tradition: a consequence, however, which, 
very possibly, all the Caraites would not so easily admit. 

A third sect among the Jews was that of the Essenians. 
These respected Moses as the first of legislators : they consider- 
ed all who spoke ill of him as blasphemers, and sentenced them 
to die. They differed from the Pharisees, in rejecting their 
traditions ; and from the Sadducees, in maintaining the immor- 
tality of the soul. This sublime doctrine, so. essential to the 
happiness of man, had engrossed the whole attention of the 
Essenians: it constituted a part of the Jewish religion; and 
they sought to give to it the last degree of evidence, by argu- 
ment, and by examining into the nature of the properties of a 
human soul, with a view both to convince themselves more 
strongly of this truth, and to enable them with greater ease to 
answer the objections of the Sadducees, who seemed to have 
adopted the principles of Epicurism. Stoicism, on the contrary, 
offered purer charms to the Essenians. According to the mo- 
rality of this philosophic sect, they concluded, that whatever 
was calculated to flatter the senses ; whatever served to inflame 
the passions, — increased the slavery of the soul. Full of these 
impressions, they abandoned the tumultuous scenes of public 
life, in order more effectually to secure themselves against that 
corruption which generally prevails in towns, and communicates 
its baneful infection to the inhabitants, as epidemic disorders are 
propagated among those that breathe an impested air. In their 
retirement they formed a society apart ; amassed neither gold 
nor silver; and, content with simple necessaries, they sub- 
sisted by the labour of their hands. 

They applied much to the study of morality ; and their pre- 
cepts all bore reference to the love of God, of virtue, and their 
neighbour. Of their love of God, Philo says, they gave un- 
numbered proofs : they observed perpetual and unsullied chas- 
tity through life. On no occasion did they swear, and never 
were detected in a lie. All good they ascribed to God ; and they 
shuddered at the idea of making Him the author of evil. They 
demonstrated to all that knew them, their sincere love of vir- 

b 2 



12 

tue, — by their noble disinterestedness of conduct ; — by their 
contempt of glory and ambition, their renunciation of pleasure, 
their patience and amiable simplicity ; — by their habitual cheer- 
fulness and contentment, their modesty, their respect for the 
laws, and their firmness and evenness of mind on all occasions. 
Their love of their neighbour was apparent, from their glowing 
charity, their affability towards all mankind, their having every 
thing in common, and their great humanity. According to 
the Essenians, nature, like a common mother, brought forth 
and nurtured all men in the same manner, and had made them 
all truly brethren : concupiscence had dissolved this natural 
relationship; and it was their ambition to revive it. In so 
favourable a light did Philo consider the Essenians ; and cer- 
tainly, if the picture be pourtrayed with accuracy, who will 
deny their virtues to have been angelic, and their moral sanc- 
tity most deserving of admiration ? May not we then hope well 
of their salvation ; and that, although their errors were consi- 
derable, they were only the mistakes of human infirmity, and 
not the offspring of self-conceit and pride ? 

The Essenians established various confraternities in Pales- 
tine ; and all things with them were in common. They were, 
moreover, interspersed among the Jews, wherever that people 
had made any settlements, especially in Syria and in Egypt. 
In this latter country in particular, near the lake Moria, on 
an eminence above the reach of hostile incursion, and eligible 
for its salubrious air, each one had a small oratory, which they 
called a monastery : there they had no other furniture than the 
writings of Moses, and of the prophets, together with a col- 
lection of some hymns, and a few other pious books. At the 
dawning of the day, they implored the divine blessing 5 — that 
true and inestimable blessing which illumines and inflames the 
soul. At the setting of the sun they prayed that their spirits, 
unincumbered by the senses and sensual objects, might be 
qualified in perfect recollection to discern the truth. The re- 
mainder of the day they employed in the study of the holy 
scriptures : the text they regarded as a symbol under which lay 
concealed the most sublime, and the most important truths. 

They neither eat nor drank before sunset ; and some among 
them, quite absorpt in contemplation, forgot for three whole 
days to take their usual nourishment. Six days successively 
they passed in their oratory, without so much as looking out at 
their door. On the seventh day, they were accustomed to as- 
semble at a common oratory, where one of the most learned of 
their body delivered a discourse, after which they took together 
their frugal repast of bread and salt. During the repast was ob- 
served a profound silence : as soon as it was over, one of the 
company proposed a question concerning certain passages of holy 
scripture 5 another undertook to answer, and the president was 



- 13 

to decide — whether the query were duly solved, then added what 
he thought fit upon the subject ; when all present expressed 
their approbation, and rose to chaunt a hymn of thanksgiving 
and praise. The rest of the day was consumed in religious con- 
ferences, and the night in sacred psalmody until the rising of 
the sun. 

The Essenians refused to hold communion with the Jews, 
because they deemed them not sufficiently perfect : they immo- 
lated no victims, and partook not of the sacrifices offered in the 
temple. 

To the abovementioned sects we may add, that of the Sama- 
ritans. The ancient kingdom of Samaria was inhabited by the 
ten tribes of Israel, severed from the kingdom of Jerusalem un- 
der Roboam, son of Solomon, by the enterprising and not less 
impious Jeroboam. Eventually, Salmanasar, king of the Assy- 
rians, made himself master of Samaria, transported its inhabi- 
tants into the plains of Chaldea, and sent a colony of Cutheans 
to repeople Samaria. This colony, we are informed in holy 
writ, was devoured by lions, because it had presumed to introduce 
into the holy land its heathenish divinities. Esharaddon sent 
thither a new colony, under the conduct of a Jewish priest, who 
had orders to re-establish there the ancient worship. But this 
priest could not prevail with the new inhabitants to abandon al- 
together their former superstition; and they made up a medley 
of their own religion with that of the old Samaritans ; till they 
finally embraced the Jewish worship, and were called proselytes 
of the Lions, to intimate that it was the dread of these furious 
animals, which had effected their conversion to the Jewish reli- 
gion, though not in all its purity. For, 

In the first place, among all the writings considered by the 
Jews as canonical, they received the Pentateuch only, or the five 
books of Moses. 

2. They offered sacrifice on Mount Garisim and not at Jeru- 
salem ; alleging, that they wished to conform to the worship of 
the patriarchs who preceded Moses. 

3. They looked for a Messiah, like the Jews ; and believed that 
this Messiah was destined not only to be a king, but a teacher 
too, sent from God to enlighten and instruct them. 

4. They observed the law of Moses with great exactitude, and 
had not, in other instances, less respect for the Pentateuch than 
the Jews themselves ; although their obedience to the law was 
not proof against the terrors of persecution and the dread of 
torments. 

5. The Samaritans rejected all tradition, and adhered only to 
the written word. As in this they agreed with the Sadducees, 
the Jews imputed to them, though wrongfully, the error of that 
sect with reference to the immortality of the soul. 

When the Ptolomies had possessed themselves of Judea and 



u 

Samaria, the Samaritans like the Jews, established themselves in 
Egypt. Like them they contracted an inclination for philosophy 
and the sciences ; particularly for the Platonic philosophy joined 
with the Chaldaic, which consisted principally in the art of pro- 
ducing certain marvellous effects by the hidden virtues of plants, 
by the delusions of astrology, and the superstitious invocation of 
the genii. Some among the Samaritans had blended this kind of 
philosophy with the dogmas of their religion : and in Samaria 
were to be found certain magicians who pretended an immediate 
mission from Almighty God, and seduced the people by their 
false miracles. The histories of Dositheus and of Simon the 
magician, establish this fact beyond dispute. 

The East had been the original nursery of mankind ; there 
the arts and sciences were first invented and duly fostered ; 
there, cities were first built, states and empires formed, at a 
-period when the Western hemisphere was inhabited by simple 
shepherds, or, in many instances, by savage hordes of rude 
barbarians. Wars, excessive population, and a variety of con- 
tingencies, compelled the adventurous among polished nations, 
to leave their original settlements, and to sail in quest of new 
abodes. These colonies formed different establishments in 
maritime countries, and particularly in Italy ; softened the man- 
ners of the barbarous people among whom they settled, and 
organized a number of small independent states, which had each 
their peculiar laws, religious usages and customs, and were 
much exposed, from their local situation, to frequent wars. 
Thus, while ease and luxury had corrupted and enfeebled the 
nations of the East, the contrary habits enured, in a corner of 
the West, a hardy race of men to the toils and dangers of almost 
perpetual warfare, and the enterprise of free booty. To charac- 
ters of this description, imperial Rome owed its origin and its 
grandeur. At its birth it resembled a kind of open plain, 
inhabited by a set of warriors or marauders, drawn together by 
the prospect of plunder, and, not uu frequently, by the hopes of 
impunity for their crimes. The excellence of its original con- 
stitution, and its advantageous situation, seemed already to 
prognosticate in its favour the conquest of Italy and Greece, as 
well as of the East, Spain and Gaul 5 all which, in effect, it 
gradually subdued. Almost the whole of the then known world 
took part in the awful contest between two of its rival citizens, 
the renowned Julius Csgsar, and Pompey surnamed the Great. 

With these conquests were introduced into the republic the 
vices of the conquered countries ; and the love of honour, liber- 
ty, and patriotism disappeared. In their place were substituted 
ambition, and a boundless thirst for riches. Thus every thing 
in the Roman commonwealth foreboded a revolution ; and an ab- 
solute monarchy was in fact established by Julius Csesar. Nor 
'did the efforts of Brutus and Cassius, who deprived him of the 



15 

sovereign power together with his life, restore their country to 
its former liberty. Augustus, triumphing over the assassins 
and their party, effectually suppressed the spirit of opposition, 
and governed in peace a mighty empire, extending from the In- 
dian ocean to the Danube, 

Augustus was succeeded by Tiberius, a prince still more 
powerful and more despotic. He lived without reproach as long 
as he remained in a private capacity, and even at the head of 
armies, under Augustus : but when no longer restrained by the 
fear or love of any man, his vices were indulged in defiance of 
all justice, honor or decorum ; and the world had for its ruler a 
prince, infamous for his shameful irregularities ; cruel, avari- 
cious ; extremely jealous of his power ; suspicious to a degree of 
frenzy. To his mad jealousy he immolated whole hecatombs of 
citizens ; and to his dark suspicions thousands of innocent people 
were inhumanly and almost daily sacrificed. Rome was full of 
informers ; and to be virtuous or rich was deemed high treason : 
none presumed to advocate the cause of the unhappy sufferers, 
or even to bemoan the dead. The voice of nature was stifled in 
the general corruption ; and a servile fear had silenced every 
sympathetic murmur. The government of the provinces was 
confided to the hands of unprincipled and rapacious ministers ; 
men devoid of every virtuous feeling, — without honor, without 
humanity ; who promoted to the dignities of the state other mis- 
creants as wicked as themselves, and disposed at pleasure of the 
life and fortunes of all within the grasp of their control. 

Tiberius named for his successor Caius Caligula. This prince 
had been educated in the midst of camps. He joined with so- 
vereign power the ferocity of the soldier ; a disposition — violent, 
impetuous and sanguinary ; and he associated with none but 
stage-players and public debauchees. Under this monster the 
atrocious reign of Tiberius himself appeared desirable ; and his 
murderers were of course applauded by the people. From this 
period the soldiery conferred, and took away, the imperial dignity 
at their discretion : the different armies named each their em- 
peror ; and the horrors of civil war were added to the vices of 
the prince, and to that universal corruption which infected the 
whole body of the empire. The rage of arms continued to 
spread desolation over the earth until the reign of Trajan, 



CHAPTER V. 

Hie origin and progress of idolatry. 

Thus had ambition and lawless violence, joined with the 
impiety of heathenism and superstition, annihilated the very 
phantom of true virtue, and substituted the most frightful cor- 



16 r 

l'uptioil and degeneracy of morals in its place. The nations of 
the earth, indeed, had lost the knowledge of the true God at 
a very early period after the universal flood, and together with 
it, had forfeited, in great measure, their very reason; may we 
not add, the privilege too, of common sense : so horribly perverted 
was their judgment, that there was nothing in the heavens or 
on earth, nay, even in hell itself, that they did not compli- 
ment with divine honours ; nothing in nature, whether good 
or evil, that they deemed not worthy of deification. 

The various species of idolatry in general may be classed as 
follows : — First, the worship of angels and spirits, or pure and 
abstracted intelligences, who were imagined to preside over 
provinces and kingdoms ; and these in holy scripture are term- 
ed Elohim or Gods, — strange Gods, the Gods of the Heathens, 
&c. concerning which see Exod. xviii. 11. xxii. 19, 2 Em^s 
xvii. 7. Secondly, the worship of the heavenly bodies, the 
sun, moon, and stars. This in scripture is termed worshipping 
the host of heaven. Thirdly, the worship of idols or statues of 
various forms and shapes; as of men, beasts, birds, fishes, 
and the Lord knows what : and this kind of worship was of all 
the most universally established, and what is most properly 
called idolatry. Fourthly,- the worship of living animals 
in their own figure: for instance, of lions, tigers, horses, 
oxen, sheep, swine, goats, dogs and cats, mice, and even 
spiders; of the eagle, the ibis, phoenix, hawks, and other 
birds and fowl ; the whale, and various kinds of fish, with 
serpents of every species, and other reptiles ; as we read in 
authentic history. Fifthly, the worship of things inanimate, 
as fire, water, air, the winds, the earth with all sorts of herbs 
and plants, stones, and shapeless blocks of marble, &c. Sixthly. 
the heathen world worshipped not only what had substance, 
but also the mere modes and accidents of things, as life, death, 
the passions of love, anger, fear, envy, and the like : diseases, 
as the fever ; also health, honour, fidelity, truth, peace, 
money and mirth ; and, what is still more shameful, impu- 
dence, calumny, fraud, fury and discord, with a train of the 
most vicious propensities of the human heart, were all esteemed 
divinities, and had temples erected for their impious worship. 
Seventhly, another branch of idolatry was, the paying of 
divine honors to kings and heroes who had performed extraor- 
dinary feats or exploits, as if they had in them something more 
than human ; and therefore they were adored in quality of 
Demi-gods. Thus the emperors of China, India, and the 
Tartars, are worshipped at this day. Lastly, the most impious 
kind of idolatry of all was, the worshipping of devils and evil 
spirits, called Caco-Demons. Their wretched votaries, by way 
of apology, allege, that God is good, and will not hurt them ; 
therefore they need not pray to him : but, say they, the wicked 



17 

spirits in the air, as they are inclined and have a power to do 
mischief, so they most undoubtedly will do it, if not appeased 
with sacrifices and supplications. Such diabolical adoration is 
very frequent at this day in the Indies, in America, and in 
other parts of the yet heathen world. 

It is a generally received opinion among the learned, that 
Ninus, the first Assyrian monarch, was the original author and 
introducer of idol-worship. With a view to immortalize the 
name and memory of his father Belus, the same with the famous 
Nimrod mentioned in holy scripture, he impiously caused a 
statue representing him, to be adored by his infatuated subjects ; 
and the more easily to induce them to it, he declared the 
temple in which it stood, a sanctuary or asylum for the guilty 
and the oppressed. The contagion quickly spread from the 
Assyrians and Chaldees to the neighbouring nations, to the 
Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Syrians, the Phoenicians, the 
Persians, Grecians and Indians, the latter of whom have been 
ever since obstinately addicted to the worship of false Gods ; 
and the secret of deification being thus early discovered* the 
heathen world, with inconceivable stupidity, multiplied their 
divinities without end or measure, according as their silly fan- 
cies, or the evil spirit that beguiled them, happened to suggest. 



PART II. 

Comprehends the whole intermediate period from the coming of 
our Redeemer in the flesh, to the sixteenth century, or the fa- 
mous epoch of the reformation. 

First century of the christian era. 

Such was the dark reign of superstition and of all iniquity, at 
the period of which we have just spoken ! The time was now 
elapsed, which had been so distinctly marked by the ancient pro- 
phets for the coming of the Messiah; and the Jews, groaning 
under the pressure of a foreign yoke, and the tyranny of Herod 
whom Augustus had confirmed in the usurpation of the Jewish 
sceptre, were eagerly expecting their promised Redeemer. The 
Roman empire was just beginning to enjoy a profound peace, 
when this divine Saviour appeared upon our earth — with all the 
characteristics necessary to distinguish him, and to make him 



IS 

known to mortals. But the Jews, under the erroneous persua- 
sion that their Messiah was destined to be a famous conqueror, 
would not recognise him in the person of Jesus Christ, and fan- 
cied they had found him under the guise of certain fanatics who 
called themselves Messiah and kings of Israel, and excited the 
people to sedition and revolt. (Joseph. Antiq. 1. 17, c. 12 ; -de 
Bell. 1. 2, c. 4, 5, 6.) 

To discharge the functions of his sacred ministry, our blessed 
Redeemer traverses Judea, and discovers to the Jews the whole 
extent of the corruption of lost man. He announces to them 
the unity of the Godhead in three persons, and assures them 
that he himself is one of these divine persons, made man in or- 
der to redeem mankind. He declares to them their religious 
obligations to this most blessed Trinity, and promises to all that 
shall believe his doctrine and practise his laws, not a temporary 
reward as the Jews expected, but a spiritual and eternal recom- 
pence; a felicity unaltered and which knows no end. Univer- 
sal benevolence, simplicity of heart, a tender condescension and 
compassion towards our fellow creatures ; the pardon of injuries, 
and the love of our very enemies themselves, together with an in- 
violable attachment to truth, are duties which he exacts from us 
all, in our mutual intercourse with each other. In regard of 
God, he enjoins a worship tempered with love, — with filial re- 
spect, — with a certain reverential fear, and with divine hope. He 
then institutes his sacraments, to procure for men the succours 
necessary to enable them to comply with their duty ; proves the 
divinity of his mission, and the truth of his doctrine by incon- 
testible miracles ; commissions his apostles to preach his doctrine 
over the whole earth ; consummates his course among mortals 
by dying upon the cross ; .rises from death by the efficacy of his 
own power, and ascends all-glorious into heaven. 

The progress of Christianity ; the preaching of the apostles ; 
the miracles wrought by them, and even the very virtues prac- 
tised by the community of the faithful, inflame the hatred of 
the Jews to fury, and make them persecute outrageously the 
church of God. The christians of Jerusalem are dispersed over all 
Palestine, and throughout all the provinces of the East, in which 
their countrymen had formed any settlements ; and they quickly 
disseminate their doctrine among the most distant nations of 
the globe. Some philosophers had already, in their writings, 
had the courage to attack polytheism ; though with much re- 
serve, and without throwing any light upon the origin of man, 
or his final destination. But never before this extraordinary 
epoch, had a whole society of men, devoid of education for 
the most part, and unacquainted with human literature, at- 
tempted to explain what the philosophers had in vain endea- 
voured to account for, concerning the first origin of things, and 
the nature and destiny of man ; or to teach a morality calcu- 



19 

iatecl to establish upon earth universal philanthropy, inviolable 
friendship, uninterrupted peace ; — a morality so pure and sub- 
lime, as to place man under the special protection of a Supreme 
and All-powerful Being, who hateth iniquity, and cherisheth 
virtue with infinite complacency; — a Being that rewardeth with 
never-ending felicity, the reasonable service rendered unto him, 
and the good offices done to our fellow-creatures for his sake, and 
our patience and resignation under the evils incident to huma- 
nity ; and who punisheth impiety with endless misery ; — impiety, 
that most unnatural of crimes ; a vice as degrading to man, as 
it is baneful to the dearest interests of society. This noble mo- 
rality the christians alone exemplified in their conduct, and 
chose rather to expire under torments, than to transgress its 
precepts, or to withhold its doctrines from their fellow men. 
Miracles and grace seconded their pious efforts ; and a prodigious 
number of jews and pagans embraced the christian religion. — 
We will now proceed briefly to examine, what were the here- 
sies which first began to ruffle its tranquillity. 

The Messiah was to be recognised by the peculiar character- 
istics under which the prophets had long before announced 
him, not less than by the miracles w T hich accompanied his actual 
appearance among men. Hence certain impostors affected to 
realize them in their own persons ; while others who could not 
with the smallest semblance of probability apply them to them- 
selves, denied the authority of the ancient prophets, and com- 
bated the doctrine of Jesus Christ by the principles of the phi- 
losophers; vainly attempting to explain consistently with the 
incoherent theories which they had invented, whatever facts 
they could not but concede in favor of Christianity. Of this de- 
scription were, for instance,— Simon Magus, Menander and 
Theodorus. 

Others, again, received the doctrine of the apostles, but pre- 
tended to reconcile it, sometimes with the Jewish religion ; at 
other times, with the philosophy of the Chaldees. Such were 
those christians whom St Paul reproaches for suffering themselves 
to be deluded with silly fables and endless genealogies. Many 
had recourse to allegorical explanations, to do away whatever 
did not tally with that system of religion which they had previ- 
ously adopted for themselves. Thus the Nazareans pretended, 
like many methodists of the present day, that the apostles had 
not understood the doctrine of Jesus Christ ; and joined to- 
gether the code of christianism with the ceremonious observances 
of the Jews : thus Hymeneus, Alexander, Philetus and Hermo- 
genes, rejected the dogma of the resurrection, because they 
deemed the union of the soul with the human body a state of 
degradation which, in their ideas, could not stand with the re- 
compence of virtue. 

Grounded upon these principles, some saw nothing in the 

c 2 



20 

christian institute but a system of morality the most excellent in 
its tendency, capable of elevating man above the dominion of 
the senses. These carried all its counsels to an extreme, and 
judged it criminal to be concerned for the nourishment of the 
body : while others, imagining that the soul is of its own nature 
incapable of being corrupted by bodily defilement, abandoned 
themselves without remorse to every kind of sensual indul- 
gence. Some regarded Jesus Christ as one of the genii de- 
scended from heaven, who had assumed humanity in outward ap- 
pearance only, the better to instruct mankind ; others believed 
him to be a man more perfect than the rest of mortals, directed 
and assisted by a genius from above : of this class were the Na- 
zareans, Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and those whom St Paul re- 
proves for starting questions calculated to cause disputes, rather 
than to administer edification in faith. (1 ep. ad Tim. 1. 4.) 

All these were condemned by the apostles, and separated from 
their communion as the corrupters of its faith. All of them, 
however, had their disciples and sectarians, who, like their mas- 
ters, severally pretended that they taught nothing but the pure 
doctrines of Christ: and, to justify their pretensions, some 
maintained that Jesus Christ had delivered a twofold doctrine, 
the one in public, proportioned to the capacity of the people, 
and which was contained in the New Testament ; the other he 
had confided to a small number only, of privileged disciples, 
which was to be understood by none but enlightened men, and 
which had heen transmitted down to them by certain chosen 
pupils of St Matthew and St Paul. (Iren. advers. haer. 
1. 1, c. 25.) 

Others there were, who boldly retrenched from the canonical 
books of the New Testament, whatever ill accorded with their 
own particular opinions, and fabricated new gospels and epistles, 
which they ascribed to the apostles, or to Moses, Zoroaster, Noah 
and Abraham ; whose names they affixed to their supposed 
productions respectively. 

All these various sects, abounding with fanatics and enthusi- 
asts, used their utmost efforts to propagate their religious re- 
veries, and succeeded but too well in many provinces of the East. 

The Pythagorean philosophers of this age regarded Jesus 
Christ as a superior being, who presided over the genii or de- 
mons by his profounder skill in the magic art ; they affected to 
rival his miracles, and to practise a kind of morality more per- 
fect than that of the christians. Of this number were Apollo- 
nius Thyaneus, and his disciples. (Vit. Apol. Thyan.) The 
Epicurean philosophers, who acknowledged no other divinity 
in nature than mere matter endowed with eternal motion, re- 
jected without any previous examination whatever they heard 
reported concerning Christianity. The Academics, whose sys- 
tem led them to doubt of every thing, troubled not their heads 



. 21 

about the christian faith. The idolatrous priests and devotees ;— 
all in a word, who gained their livelihood by the worship of 
false gods ; architects, musicians, perfumers, statuaries, and 
sculptors, to a man rose up against the christians ; imputed to 
them alone every calamity, and every species of wickedness ; and 
left nothing unattempted to render them the objects of public 
hatred. Magistrates and politicians, under the erroneous idea 
that Christianity, by the introduction of a new doctrine, must 
of course disturb the peace of the state, looked upon its pro- 
fessors with a jealous eye. Laws were enacted against them, 
and executed with the utmost rigour, under the bloody reign 
of Nero. Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian and Titus, 
suspended the persecution, which again broke out with equal 
fierceness under the tyrant Domitian. The peaceable reign of 
Nerva was favourable to the christians, as well as to every other 
description of men. But, in the very worst of times, and in 
the midst of persecution itself, the church of Christ, founded 
by the apostles, unalterable in its doctrine, and incorruptible 
in its morality, had made rapid progress over the whole extent 
of the Roman empire, while the greatest part of the sects 
above-mentioned had dwindled to insignificance, and nearly 
sunk into oblivion. Had the christian religion been an impos- 
ture, its progress, and the annihilation of the various sects 
which attacked it at its very birth, would have been not only an 
effect without any possible cause, but a fact which took place 
in defiance of the combined assemblage of every possible cause 
which, in the natural course of things, must have prevented 
it. The learning, the ingenuity, and the malice of its nume- 
rous adversaries ; the terrors of persecution, the impenetrable 
mysteriousness of its doctrines ; its contradiction to every senti- 
ment of flesh and blood, and the want of all the ordinary 
qualifications requisite in its founders to recommend it to the 
veneration of mankind, are all of this nature. Among the 
sectaries who opposed it, many invented systems to explain — 
in what sense Jesus Christ might be termed the only Son of 
God. This, then, had been an article of belief taught by 
Christ, and confirmed by miracles. In fact, the apostles re- 
trenched from the communion of the church, all those who 
believed that Jesus Christ was merely the most perfect among 
creatures. Consequently, in the very times of the apostles the 
faithful believed that Jesus Christ was true God, and from 
eternity ; and this belief was a fundamental article of christian- 
ism. Hence it is most evident, that all the Socinian interpreta- 
tions of scripture passages relative to the divinity of Jesus 
Christ, are in direct contradiction to the sense which the 
apostles affixed to them ; and one solitary instance of a single 
individual separated by them from the communion of the 
church, for maintaining that Jesn^ Christ was only a creature, 



•arid not from eternity, is abundantly sufficient to do away all 
the boasted comments of the anti-christian school of Socinus. 

Second century of the christian {Era. 

The disorders which prevailed in the Roman empire, inclu- 
sively from the reign of Tiberius to that of Domitian, seemed to 
forebode its speedy dissolution. The choice of a virtuous em- 
peror at this crisis saved it. His reign was truly the com- 
mencement of a golden age ; and all his moments appeared to 
be employed in laying the foundations of perpetual pros- 
perity to the empire. He succeeded in reconciling together 
two things hitherto esteemed absolutely incompatible; the 
sovereignty of the prince, and the liberty of the sjibject. 

Nerva had relatives, and even children of his own. Never- 
theless he adopted for his colleague in the empire, one whose 
person was to him an utter stranger, save by the fame of his 
military and social virtues. This was Trajan; under whose 
reign the power and magnificence of Rome was at its zenith. 
He caused the laws to be respected within the empire ; subdued 
the Dacii ; gave kings to the Parthians ; conquered Armenia, 
the two Arabias, Felix and Petrea, Assyria, and an incredible 
number of nations, till then unknown. In a word, he traversed 
and subjected all those immense tracts over which Alexander the 
Great had heretofore extended his domain. But these barba- 
rians had imbibed a strong aversion for the Roman name ; and 
fear alone prevented them from rising in a mass against their 
haughty conquerors. Egypt, Arabia and Lybia, were on the 
eve of insurrection ; and the Marcomanni and Sarmatians were 
actually making inroads into the empire — when Adrian assumed 
the purple. This prince, though himself a great captain, aban- 
doned all the conquests of his predecessor, and fixed the boun- 
daries of the empire within the banks of the Euphrates. He 
turned his whole attention towards peace, and the administra- 
tion of impartial justice in the interior of the state ; he even 
granted pensions to several barbarian kings ; although, at the 
same time, he entertained a numerous body of troops, to which 
he gave an admirable discipline, and which he kept in constant 
exercise, as if preparing for immediate war. Antoninus, who 
succeeded him, did not recede from this wise plan ; and he 
too, thought more of defending, than of extending, the limits 
of the empire. Never had pagan Rome an emperor more 
strictly just, or more scrupulously virtuous ; nor did ever em- 
peror possess so much authority and influence over foreign na- 
tions, or had fewer wars to sustain than Antoninus. 

The reign of Marcus Aurelius was not so peaceable. In the 
East the Paathians and Armenians commenced hostilities, while 



23 

the Marcomanni, the Narisqui, the Hormonduri, the Quadi, the 
Moors and other barbarous hordes, in incredible numbers poured 
into the Roman territories, and plundered and dismantled the 
towns and provinces in the West : over all these enemies Mar- 
cus Aurelius obtained considerable advantages, but was eventu- 
ally constrained to allow many of them to settle in the provinces 
of the empire. His son Commodus exceeded, if possible, all 
the vicious emperors who had preceded him, in every species of 
profligacy, of cruelty and extravagance. Under his inauspici- 
ous reign, the empire was on every side assailed with a destruc- 
tive w r ar. The efforts, however, of these numerous hosts of ene- 
mies from without, it courageously withstood ; but at home it 
was torn in pieces by the fury of Commodus, and the intolerable 
exactions of his rapacious governors. The hands of conspira- 
tors rid the earth of this monster, born for the calamity and the 
disgrace of human nature. He was succeeded by Pertinax, who 
himself after a short reign was assassinated by the Praetorian 
guards. The insolence of these bands was at the highest pitch ; 
and they publicly offered the empire to the best bidder. Julian, 
a man of pleasure and immensely rich, but equally void of prin- 
ciple, of talents, and of learning, made the splendid purchase, 
and was accordingly proclaimed emperor at Rome. The armies 
of the East, Illyricum, and Great Britain, severally chose their 
respective emperors. These were — Niger, Albinus and Severus, 
who waged a furious war against each other till the close of this 
century. Severus triumphed eventually over all his competitors, 
and remained sole master of the empire. 

Such was the political state of things during the second cen- 
tury. The religion universally established over the Roman em- 
pire, and indeed, over the whole earth till the birth of Christiani- 
ty, was Polytheism or rank idolatry. Every where the people, 
as heretofore, adored dumb idols of wood and stone, and offered 
to their imaginary deities sacrifices of human blood. The em- 
peror Claudius, it is true, abolished the last mentioned impious 
and cruel rites. But Trajan, who affected to revere a supreme 
Being, permitted his infatuated subjects to immolate victims even 
to his own statues, and to swear by his life and immortality. 
Human sacrifices, notwithstanding their prohibition, were again 
renewed in his reign ; and two male Greeks, with two Gallic fe- 
males, were buried alive in the market place at Rome, in order 
to avert the evils impending over the empire. (Plut. quest, 
sur les Rom.) Adrian, though one of the most enlightened 
scholars of the age, had recourse on all occasions to divination 
and magic : he consecrated temples to his own divinity, and even 
deified after death his infamous favorite Antinous. (Spart. Adri- 
ani vit.) Antoninus, too, was a scrupulous observer of all the 
ceremonies of paganism : nor was his successor Marcus Aurelius 
a less bigotted devotee to every species of superstition, Severus 



24 

ranked the monster Commodus in the n amber of the gods ; in- 
stituted festivals to his honor, and appointed a high-priest to 
preside over the worship of this portentous deity. Of such ex- 
travagant instances of deification the christians did not fail to 
make a proper handle, and to infer triumphantly against idola- 
ters, what kind of gods those also were, whom they had deified 
in a similar manner in more ancient times. 

In the mean while Christianity had been diffused through all 
the provinces of the Roman empire, and among the various na- 
tions with which the Romans were in commerce : the temples of 
false gods were almost totally abandoned, and their sacrifices in 
great part were interrupted. The populace, stirred up by the 
priests and those whom motives of interest still attached to their 
pagan superstition, loudly demanded the punishment of the chris- 
tians ; and the magistrates put them to the most cruel deaths. 
Notwithstanding all this rigor, their numbers daily increased ; 
and Trajan, to prevent the depopulation of the empire, by a 
strange and inconsistent policy, forbade the christians to be 
sought for ; while he directed them to be punished in case they 
were denounced. 

An edict so replete with folly worse than infantile, did not 
arrest the progress of Christianity. The miracles and the zeal 
of its professors in announcing their religion ; the purity of their 
morals, and that admirable constancy with which they chose 
to spill their blood rather than prevaricate : the consoling truths 
which they proposed to the consideration of mankind ; that 
blissful eternity which they held out to those who suffered death 
for the love of Jesus Christ, and the supernatural helps which 
they received from heaven in propagating the gospel, increased 
their numbers beyond all calculation. In effect, what could the 
infuriated mandates of tyrants do against a religion so divine j 
or the fear of death, in regard of those whose sole ambition was 
to die ? The law which prohibited christians to be sought for, 
was esteemed by many — a misfortune which deprived them of the 
crown of martyrdom : they presented themselves before the tri- 
bunals of their own accord, and boldly declared that they were 
followers of Christ. Adrian, though superstitious in the ex- 
treme, admired their virtue, and ordered the tumultuary accu- 
sations of the populace to be disregarded ; nor would he suffer 
any to be put to death without the proof of some notorious 
crime. This edict the pagan priests and a bigotted rabble did 
their utmost to have repealed. They represented the christians 
in colours the most odious, and imputed to them the dreadful 
earthquakes which had desolated many provinces. The states 
of Asia, and other countries, with pious eagerness, solicited of 
Antoninus, the permission to search after, and to put to death, 
the innocent professors of the gospel. Antoninus saw the un- 
reasonableness, and the injustice, of persecuting men for their 



' 25 

religious principles, who had no other crime than that of dis- 
senting from the common opinion in their system of belief. 
Marcus Aurelius was not quite so delicate in his ideas of justice ; 
nor of principles so liberal and enlightened. He involved the 
christians, with the various sects of gnostics — men of infamous and 
abandoned morals, in one common writ of persecution, and re- 
garded them as a set of gloomy fanatics who voluntarily rushed 
upon^ their own destruction. However, even under the reign of 
Comhiod us Christianity enjoyed some intervals of repose; also 
during the revolutions which convulsed the Roman empire upon 
the death of Pertinax, and under the rival emperors Julian, 
Niger and Albinus. But Severus again renewed the persecu- 
cution — though with no better success than those who went be- 
fore him. 

While thus the whole power of the empire was employed for 
the destruction of the christians, their -persons and their doc- 
trines were at the same time furiously attacked by a numerous 
phalanx of philosophers ; — Cynics, Epicureans, Pythagoreans, 
&c. Among these were — Crescens, Celsus, Fronto and a crowd 
of sophists ; some of whom demanded with unfeeling asperity 
and malice the death of these pretended enemies of mankind. 
(Orig. cont. Cels. Justin, Apol. pro Christ. 23. Euseb. Hist. • 
Eccles. I. 4. Minut. Felix.) In the midst of such alarming ob- 
stacles, the christian religion pushed its conquests to the remotest 
quarters of the globe : it had erected its victorious standard — at 
Rome, at Athens, at Alexandria ; — and even in the most 
celebrated schools of each philosophic sect, though supported 
by the fury of popular commotion, the authority of the laws, 
and the power of arbitrary rulers. 

This amazing growth of Christianity is attested by all christian 
writers, as well as by the pagan authors of the times. Pliny re- 
marked it to the emperor Trajan ; and the impious Lucian is com- 
pelled to acknowledge, that all places at that early period, were 
already filled with christians. Nor were these christians a set of 
men remarkable for their credulity, or for their love of novelty ; 
or a superstitious and stupid rabble : they were persons of all ranks 
and descriptions, whose subtilty of understanding and depth of 
genius were the terror of impostors : in their presence these se- 
ducers forbade the pretended mysteries of their vaunted new 
mythology to be exhibited, for fear of their detection. (Plin. 
Ep. 1. 10. ep. 97. Lucian Pseudomant. Justin. Tert. Apol.) 
This, however, did not prevent a vast number of sectaries from 
propagating their extravagant theories in the second age. Sa- 
turninus, Basilides, Carpocrates ; Valentinus, Cerdo, Marcion 
and Hermogenes ; Hermias, Bardesanes, Appelles ; Tatian, 
and Severus, and Heraclian ; the Sethians, the Cainites, the 
Ophites : — some, in order, as they fancied, more effectually to 
withdraw their hearts from earthly things, and to fix them more 

D 



26 

securely in heaven, absolutely interdicted themselves every kind 
of pleasure : others on the contrary, looked upon pleasures as a 
tribute due to the angels whom they imagined to be the creators 
of this lower world ; or else esteemed them things indifferent in 
themselves, and of course not apt to contaminate the soul. 
These indulged in the most scandalous immorality : some went 
naked, like Adam and Eve in the state of innocency ; others, in 
the opposite extreme, condemned as criminal whatever might 
have the remotest tendency to excite the passions. All alike 
notwithstanding, pretended sedulously to practise what Jesus 
Christ came down to teach mankind, in order to con- 
duct them safe to heaven. Some acknowledged him to be 
the Son of God ; others an angel ; others again, supposed him 
to be a mere human being, upon whom the divinity had lavished 
his gifts with a more liberal hand than upon any other mortal 
man. — All without exception, acknowledged the truth of the 
miracles of our Lord ; and all had condescended to new-model 
their original system of philosophy, in order to facilitate their 
explanation : these miracles, therefore, must have been, in the 
highest degree, incontestible ; since even systematic pride owned 
itself unable to contest them. Thus were the dogmas of the 
Pythagorean, the Platonic and the Stoic philosophy combined 
with the superstitious practices of magic and astrology, all em- 
ployed in attempting to elucidate the miracles and the doctrines 
of Christianity ; and all these fanciful inventors of new sects en- 
deavoured to assert the plausibility of their pretensions, in oppo- 
sition to their rival empirics of the day. They had every where 
their respective preachers, who by the affected austerity of their 
life, or by their loose morality and some fictitious miracles, se- 
duced the people, and communicated to them their own fanati- 
cism. Some of these sectaries found means widely to extend their 
society. The numerous sects of the Basilidians, the Valentinians, 
the Marcionites, were distinguished and upheld by the severity 
of their morals, which tended, they conceived, to restrain the 
passions, and to rid mankind of the tyranny of the senses. Such 
was the general enthusiasm of the age. Among christians 
this system of morality produced a set of men who carried the 
spirit of rigorism and mortification far beyond the boundaries 
which religion and the church prescribed. These men did not 
in the ardor of their zeal, undertake to form a society apart ; — 
but they soon began to conceive themselves to be more perfect 
than the rest of their christian brethren, and their morality more 
sublime. Hence Montanus, a proud and self-conceited man, 
took occasion to style himself the Reformer of that religion 
taught by Jesus Christ. He pretended, that our blessed Re- 
deemer had promised to send down the Holy Ghost — to teach a 
religion still more perfect than his own ; that he [Montanus] was 
himself the Holy Ghost, or the prophet by whose mouth the Hoi/ 



' 27 

Spirit caused this more perfect dispensation to be announced to 
men. The impostor had disciples who affected to be inspired 
like himself, and formed a numerous sect divided into a variety 
of branches, which differed from each other only in a few ridicu- 
lous observances. Martyrdom was the watch-word of this sect ; 
and hence we find a multitude of Montanists suffering death in 
support of their superstition. It survived the storm of persecu- 
tion, and continued to exist till the fifth century. 

Montanus and his sectaries, notwithstanding their apparent 
regularity of life, in a council of orthodox bishops had been re- 
trenched from the communion of the faithful. Thus the church, 
ever incorruptible in its morality as well as in its doctrine, 
shewed itself equally averse from all extremes and every species 
of excess: consequently, the establishment of the christian reli- 
gion is not the result of enthusiasm, as some modern infidels 
vainly would have us to believe. 

Most heresies broached in the two first centuries, were a 
compound of pagan philosophy with the dogmas of Christianity : 
accordingly, they were combated by christian theologists with 
philosophic principles, and with those of reason. The beauty 
of their writings ; their reputation and eventual success, attract- 
ed the attention of all to the study of philosophy. Religious 
subjects began to be treated with the nicest regard to method 5 
and the proofs of the christian doctrine were supported by dint 
of argument, and the maxims of the most celebrated sages of 
antiquity. Too servile an adhesion to this rule produced effects 
the most mischievous in their consequences. Certain christians 
affected to render the mysteries of our faith more credible by 
assimulating them with the ideas borrowed exclusively from rea- 
son. Religion suffered by the comparison ; and its doctrines 
were modelled according to the fancies of these conceited inno- 
vators. Such were — Artemon and Theodotus, who eventually 
contested the divinity of Jesus Christ ; and the Melchisedecians, 
who pretended that he was inferior to Melchisedec. 

Artemon, Theodotus, and the Melchisedecians, were cen- 
sured by the church, and cut off from the communion of the 
faithful: their erroneous doctrines were refuted by the con- 
current authorities of holy scripture, the hymns and canticles com- 
posed at the commencement of Christianity, and the writings of 
ecclesiastical authors, who were more ancient than any of these sec- 
tarists : consequently, the divinity of Jesus Christ was distinctly 
taught in the church as a fundamental article, and recognised as 
such in the sacred hymns composed in the very infancy of our 
holy religion. 

It taught against Marcion, Cerdo, Saturninus, &c. the 
unity of the Divine nature, the first cause and great principle 
of all things; and against Cerinthus, Artemon, Theodotus, 
&c. that Jesus Christ was true God. Praxeas, who was con- 

d2 



28 

temporary with Theodotus, erroneously concluded, that Jesus 
Christ could not be a divine person distinct from God the 
Father; and was himself condemned as Theodotus had been be- 
fore him ; though he did not form any sect. 

May I here be allowed to re-assert, that the christian church 
taught distinctly at this early period: 1, the consubstantiality 
of the word ; believing, as she did, one only divine substance, — 
eternal, existing necessarily, and infinite in its attributes ; and 
that Jesus Christ was truly God ; 2, — that the church then 
as distinctly proposed the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, and 
professed it as a fundamental dogma of Christianity. 

These are undeniable facts, which alone suffice to overturn, 
and at once triumphantly to do away — the system of Socinus, 
together with those of Clark, Whiston, and their anti-trinitarian 
brethren, regarding the most Blessed Trinity, and the consub- 
stantiality of the Son of God. 

While thus the infant church had to contend with heresy and 
persecution, Judea since the death of Herod was become a 
province of the Roman empire. The Jews, notwithstanding, 
still preserved the purity of their religion ; and their very inter- 
course with the idolators, as well as the tyranny of their go- 
vernors and collectors of the public taxes, confirmed and in- 
creased their hatred of the Romans, and their aversion for idol- 
ators in general, even to a degree of frenzy. Their expectations 
of a Deliverer, who was to subdue all the nations of the earth, 
disposed the minds of the ignorant to insurrection; which, ac- 
cordingly, did not fail to burst forth into a flame both at Jeru- 
salem, throughout all Judea, in Syria, and in Egypt. Vespa- 
sian is sent against them at the head of a Roman army j and his 
son Titus enters Jerusalem by storm, — demolishes the temple 
with the greater part of that devoted city, — sells its wretched 
inhabitants for slaves, and disperses the remainder of the Jewish 
people over almost the whole habitable world. 

With the city and the temple of Jerusalem, the Jewish reli- 
gion lost whatever was calculated to impress the mind with awe 
and veneration. The Jews themselves remained in a state of 
disorganization, intermixed with the inhabitants of the most 
distant nations of the globe. Still, however, they universally 
retained an implacable aversion for the rest of mankind ; and 
their hopes of a Messiah, whom they vainly figured to them- 
selves as a mighty conqueror, seemed to increase with their 
misfortunes. These were circumstances which continually im- 
pelled the Jewish people to revolt. Nor were impostors wanting 
to personate the Messiah, and by some ingenious deception to 
induce them to believe their mission was from God. Thus did 
the torch of rebellion blaze out at Alexandria,— over all Egypt, 
Thebais and Lydia, — in Cyprus, and in Mesopatamia, under 
the reign of the emperor Trajan. When Adrian his successor 



- 29 

In the empire, was preparing to send a colony to Jerusalem, the 
impostor Rarcochebas stepped forth, and was anointed and re- 
cognised by the Jewish rabbins for their king and Saviour. The 
Romans at first despised him ; but when they saw him at the 
head of a numerous army, and upon the point of being joined 
by all the Jews, the imperial legions were sent against them ; 
and prodigious numbers on this occasion fell victims to their 
own infatuation. An edict was issued, forbidding them to enter 
Jerusalem, or even to reside in any place whence Jerusalem 
might be seen. This, however, did not discourage them ; and 
whenever circumstances seemed to promise eventual success, 
they failed not to rise in arms. In the close of the second cen- 
tury, this restless people once more, to their cost, insulted 
the Roman eagles, during the reign of the emperor Severus. 

Such was the forlorn and unsettled state of the Jews after the 
destruction of Jerusalem. The priests who had survived the 
fate of this unhappy city, lay concealed in Palestine, and there 
endeavoured to collect the remnant of their scattered nation. 
As they were better grounded than the rest of the Jews, in their 
religion and jurisprudence, to them their exiled countrymen had 
recourse for instruction. They chose out of their body the per- 
son whom they deemed best qualified, to regulate in the different 
synagogues what regarded the law, the ceremonies, and their 
solemn worship. This person was at the head of the college of 
priests who resided in Palestine, and who did not wish to re- 
move to a greater distance from Jerusalem, where they expected 
to see their temple re-established. He was the patriarch of the 
Jews in exile : His duty it was to visit the synagogues $ and 
these defrayed the expences of his journeys. 



Third age of the christian era. 

The wars of Severus with his rivals Julian, Niger and Albi- 
nus ; the cruel vengeance which he exercised upon their several 
friends and adherents ; his avarice, his brutal inhumanity, deso- 
lated the state, and caused vast numbers of his subjects and of 
the soldiery to seek protection among barbarians. However, as 
he was consummately skilled in the art of war, and of superior 
talents for government, the empire still continued powerful 
during his reign, and made the surrounding nations tremble. 

Severus was succeeded by Caracalla, who with all the vices of 
his father carried to their utmost excess, joined not one of hjs 
better qualities. The seeds of disaffection and revolt which the 
genius of Severus had stifled in the interior of the state, now be- 
gan on the sudden to develope ; and the hereditary hatred which 
foreigners had imbibed for the Roman name, and which he had 
hitherto kept at bay, at once burst forth, and was inflamed to a 



30 

degree of fury by the unheard of perfidy of Caracalla ; while 
avarice, ambition and voluptuousness, vices which even before 
his reign had proceeded to an alarming pitch, daily gained 
ground throughout the whole empire. In the course of this 
century (such was the anarchy and confusion of the times) more 
than twenty emperors were raised successively to the throne, 
chiefly by the hands of faction and seditious influence, or by the 
murder of their respective predecessors. Hardly, in effect, was 
an emperor assassinated, when his murderer seized the reigns of 
government ; and four or five competitors at once disputed with 
him the privilege of reigning. Often when all appeared in pro- 
found peace and harmony, would the flame of sedition suddenly 
blaze forth in four or five different provinces at a time ; just as a 
dreadful storm spreads sudden desolation in its progress over the 
tracts in which it spends its fury. In these intestine commotions 
of the state three of the best and greatest emperors that Rome 
had ever beheld ; Alexander, Aurelian and Probus — all shared 
a similar fate with the monsters Heliogabalus and Caracalla. 

Thus torn in pieces by its own hands, the empire was assailed 
on every side, — by the Scythians, the Parthians, the Persians, the 
Goths, the Heruli, the Germans ; and by that confused medley of 
barbarians, distinguished under the appellation of Francs. These 
furious hordes now penetrated the empire in all directions ; and 
it was compelled to purchase a precarious peace of those very 
people, to whom heretofore it had been accustomed to grant it 
upon the most humiliating terms. The booty which they car- 
ried off on these occasions, was an allurement too tempting for 
these savage adventurers to resist; and the hopes of greater 
plunder perpetuated a destructive war, which terminated in the 
eventual downfal of the Roman empire. Gross idolatry, with 
all its attendant horrors, still prevailed, and almost the very 
idea of virtue and justice seemed extinct in the pagan world. 
Such was the horrible degeneracy of the Roman senate, that 
they decreed divine honors and the title of God even to a Cara- 
calla, the murderer of his own father and brother, the bloody 
executioner of the people, and the terror and execration of all 
mankind. The champions of paganism, indeed, and the per- 
secutors of the christians, were in general, men of abandoned 
characters, and notoriously wicked. The palpable absurdity, 
and the glaring inconsistencies of their own mythology, had been 
exposed by christian writers in the brightest light of evidence ; 
and their philosophers were reduced to the miserable shift of 
new-modelling their various systems ; in order to reconcile, if 
possible, the discordant theories of polytheism and the different 
philosophic sects — with some degree of plausibility and harmony 
in their leading principles. Ammonius was the first devisor of 
this hodge-podge of philosophism, which became extremely 
fashionable in the third age, and was termed the eclectic sect. 



The Jews had been dispersed and intermingled with almost 
every nation of the globe. Thus, wherever the christian reli- 
gion was announced, it found its mortal enemies ; enemies very 
capable of convicting it of imposture, had there been a possi- 
bility of substantiating the charge. To the Jews many of the 
Roman emperors had been^favourable, and granted them cer- 
tain privileges, allowing them to establish academies, and to 
cultivate the sciences. Their school of Tiberias became very 
famous ; and they had some celebrated rabbinical doctors at 
Babylon. In the beginning of the reign of Severus, both Jews 
and "christians were tolerated; but a cruel policy soon took 
place, and again subjected the professors of Christianity to the 
rigours of persecution, during the remainder of this emperor's 
reign. However, Caracalla and Heliogabalus did not oppose 
the progress of christianism ; and Alexander Severus, the best 
of Heathen princes, patronised its professors, admitted them to 
his court, and even called them to his privy council. Maximin 
renewed the persecution ; but Gordian and Philip befriended 
their cause. Decius, the murderer of his master Philip, was 
their implacable enemy. But Gallus who succeeded him, re- 
stored peace to the church ; although eventually he became 
himself its ruthless persecutor : so did Valerian after him ; whose 
impiety was quickly arrested by the Divine justice, in the com- 
mencement of his rage, as Lactantius remarks; and in his 
person was exhibited to the world a striking instance of the in- 
constancy of human things. Gallien beheld with seeming in- 
difference his father's misery ; and whilst he suffered him to 
drag on in captivity a dying life, he put a stop to the persecu- 
tion raised by him, and caused the christian churches and ceme- 
teries to be restored. After a reign of fifteen years Gallien was 
assassinated, and his successor, Claudius II. published his 
bloody edicts against the true religion ; but his reign was short. 
Aurelian restored tranquillity to the innocent sufferers; and 
after his death they were permitted to enjoy a long interval of 
peace, nearly till the close of this century. Their numbers had 
prodigiously increased, especially under those emperors who had 
allowed them the free exercise of their religion. They practised 
it in the midst of the palace, where they occupied important 
charges, — had gained the affection and the confidence of their 
princes, and possessed considerable interest at court. The 
bishops, whose character was highly respected in the provinces, 
were permitted to build churches ; and their flocks were astonish- 
ingly numerous. 

Nor was Christianity confined within the precincts of the Ro* 
man jurisdiction ; its zealous disciples propagated its doctrines 
among the barbarous nations in commerce with the empire. 
Sometimes the enemies of the Roman name in their hostile de- 
predations carried off' a multitude of captives : some of them 



S2 

were christians, who disseminated among these people the bright 
example of the sublimest virtues, and the admirable light of the 
gospel. 

While thus the church of Christ continued to flourish, and to 
increase even under the axe of persecution, it vigorously repressed 
and condemned every attempt at innovation in its doctrine and 
the purity of its morals. In the close of the foregoing century, 
it was fashionable to join the study of philosophy with that of 
religion. This philosophy was neither Platonism nor Stoi- 
cism ; it consisted in adopting whatever in any philosophic system 
reason discovered to be true ; and every one in consequence, 
thought himself privileged to elucidate the mysteries of religion 
by those maxims of the ancient sages, which appeared to him 
best calculated to render them intelligible. In fact, the awful 
obscurity of our mysteries was ever a great stumbling block to 
infidels, and to the wise ones of this world. 

The grand mysteries of our holy faith are not contrary to rea- 
son ; but they are exalted infinitely above it. Reason, there- 
fore, is not competent to suggest any idea which may render 
them obvious to the understanding; and many, not aware of 
this, in the attempt to explain them by the common principles 
of reason, altered and adulterated them. Thus did Beryllus, 
Noetus, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata and Hierax, give explana- 
tions regarding the mysteries of the blessed Trinity and the in- 
carnation of the Son of God, that tended absolutely to do away 
the mysteries themselves. The church then condemned these 
fatal errors, with many others of a tendency equally pernicious ; 
and excluded their abettors from its pale : thus we see, the Tri- 
nity of persons and the Divinity of Jesus Christ,— the spirituali- 
ty and immortality of the soul, were dogmas clearly established 
and distinctly taught in the church of God, during the third 
age ; as these sentences of excommunication against their im- 
pugners abundantly demonstrate. 

Meanwhile, other christian philosophers, more cautious and 
more discerning than the former, combated with success the 
various sects of Gnostics who had made their appearance in the 
preceding ages ; and reclaimed them from their extravagant er- 
rors. The church had not yet decided by any positive law, upon 
what terms the reclaimed should be admitted. Africa and the 
East classed them with the Catechumens, and re-baptised them. 
In the West, on the contrary, they were not re-baptised, but were 
received barely with the imposition of hands. This diversity of 
practice gave rise to much contention, and nearly caused a 
schism in the church. Those, too, who in the times of per- 
secution had renounced their faith, demanded with great ear- 
nestness their re-admission to communion : some wished them 
to be received without the humiliating ceremony of canonical 
penance ; others insisted that this could not be dispensed with : 



33 



others again, still more rigidly severe, pretended that they 
ought not to be re- admitted into the church, on any terms what- 
ever. This variety of opinions produced party spirit and divi- 
sion, with some sects. Of this the Novatians are one instance. 



Fourth age. 

Almost all the subjugated nations ; — the Persians, the Scy- 
thians, the Goths -, Francs, Germans, and other barbarous 
tribes, allured by the hopes of plunder, broke impetuously into 
the Roman provinces. It was therefore absolutely necessary to 
entertain and keep embodied a formidable military force, with- 
out which the empire could not withstand the efforts of its 
enemies, and which itself, nevertheless, was capable of annihi- 
lating at once both the emperors and the empire. Dioclesian, 
in order to ward off inconveniences eventually so mischievous to 
the state, resolved to share the weight of government with Max- 
imus — a warrior consummately qualified for the conduct of 
armies, as his colleague in the empire ; and with Galerius and 
Constantius Chlorus, whom he created Cesars or emperors of 
inferior rank. This system, he thought, would give a check to 
the spirit of faction in the armies, which, separately, would be 
too weak to claim the privilege of raising their respective gene- 
rals to the sovereignty, and would likewise counteract the am- 
bition of commanders, and even of the emperors themselves, by 
deterring them from assuming undue superiority over their col- 
leagues. This policy, however, far from answering the views 
of Dioclesian, gave the Roman empire four masters : they all 
aspired equally to absolute authority, formed their several alli- 
ances apart, and incessantly waged war against each other, till 
Constantine became sole master of the empire. On his death- 
bed, he adopted the impolitic system of Dioclesian, and divided 
his dominions amongst his children. These did not long remain 
content with the partition, and made war with one another ; 
while they were all attacked by ambitious competitors, and 
perished in the contest, except Constantius, who again re-united 
in his own person the sovereignty of the state. 

During the whole of the fourth century was the empire thus 
divided and re-united by turns — under Valentinian, Gratian, 
Theodosius, and his sons Arcadius and Honorius. Mean- 
while the barbarians from without harassed the provinces with 
continual incursions. Incredible were the calamities which at- 
tended this unceasing state of warfare; and the loss of blood was 
immense. Still, however, the Roman discipline maintained a 
decided superiority in the tumultuary attacks of these savage 
invaders, and still nobly asserted the integrity of the empire. 

Dioclesian, in the beginning of his reign, had favored the 

E 



34 

christian religion. His palace was full of distinguished chris- 
tian noblemen, and many even of the Pretorian guards were of 
this profession, both in the capacity of officers and privates. 
But as the emperor was himself a bigotted pagan, and super- 
stitious to a degree, means were devised to alarm his bigotry 
and inflame his heathen zeal to madness. A dreadful persecu- 
tion was the consequence. Maximius and Galerius were the 
implacable enemies of Christianity in the East, while their rival 
Constantius protected it in the West. His son Constantine 
was equally favorable ; but Licinius, Constantine's competitor 
and his most treacherous foe, persecuted the christians in the 
most outrageous manner throughout the Eastern districts of the 
empire. Constantine marched against his frantic antagonist, 
fully determined to wrest from him that power which he so 
wantonly abused. Licinius had caused a crowd of augurs, ma- 
gicians, and Egyptian priests, to attend him at his camp : these 
vainly called upon their imaginary deities, offered to them innu- 
merable sacrifices, and promised him an easy victory. Con- 
stantine, on the other hand, environed with the christian priest- 
hood, and with the banner of the cross triumphantly displayed 
before him, implored the succour of the Supreme God, and 
reposed his hopes of victory in Him alone. Heaven recom- 
pensed his pious expectations with the total overthrow of the 
impious Licinius, who had vowed, in the event of success, to 
immolate all the Romans — meaning principally the christians — 
to his heathen gods. 

The morality of the christian religion was pure and sublime : 
Constantine had no subjects more faithful, nor the empire citi- 
zens more virtuous, more scrupulously just, or of principles 
more benevolent and humane; nor were any of them ever 
known to have taken part in insurrection against the most in- 
human of their persecutors. Had Constantine been influenced 
merely by motives of policy, this circumstance alone must have 
determined him to prefer the christian religion before all others, 
to form of it the established religion of the state. In aid of 
motives purely human, were added — miracles of the Divine 
power in this emperor's favour, which rendered him victorious 
over all his rivals. In an edict, recorded by Eusebius in his 
life of Constantine, this prince addresses himself to the Almigh- 
ty, and protests before Him his zeal to extend the Divine 
worship. At the same time, he declares it his intention, that 
even the impious shall enjoy unmolested a state of tranquillity 
and peace — under his protection ; convinced, that this is the 
surest method to bring them back eventually to the right way. 
He forbids them to be disturbed ; exhorts his subjects mutually 
to support and aid each other, however opposite may be their 
religious sentiments ; and to communicate their lights to their 
fellow-creatures without violence or compulsion ; because, say? 



' 35 

he, " in the cause of religion it is noble rather to suffer death 
than to inflict it, notwithstanding the contrary pretensions of 
some christians, influenced with an indiscreet and cruel zeal." 
(Vit. Const. 1. 2, c. 60.) 

Nevertheless he prohibited the offering of sacrifices, shut up 
the temples of the heathen gods, and caused them afterwards to 
be demolished. The power and renown of this emperor ; the 
translation by him of the seat of empire to Constantinople ; his 
triumphs over his enemies, together with the wonderful establish- 
ment of Christianity, and the evidence of miracles wrought in his fa- 
vor, attracted the attention of the most distant nations. The Goths 
and other barbarous people, who had long been accustomed to 
make inroads upon the Roman territories, and on those occa- 
sions had carried off vast multitudes of christian captives, were 
by them converted to the faith, and now professed the christian 
religion. The Ethiopians too, applied to Constantine for 
christian bishops ; while the Jews, on the contrary, possessed 
with the silly idea of subjugating the rest of mankind, continued 
to avail themselves of every opportunity which seemed to favor 
their extravagant pretensions. Against them, Constantine 
enacted severe laws ; and after his demise his sons dispatched a 
military force to reduce them to submission. Valentinian and 
Theodosius granted them certain privileges ; and the latter of 
those princes forbade christians to molest them or to pull down 
their synagogues. They had judges — both civil and ecclesiastic — 
of their own, whose decisions were enforced in all matters apper- 
taining to religion or to religious discipline ; in other instances 
they were subject to the laws of the empire. 

In the midst of the tumult of war and faction which con- 
vulsed the universe till the period when Constantine became ab- 
solute throughout the whole extent of the Roman dynasty, the 
arts and sciences were cultivated almost exclusively, by heathen 
philosophers and the christians. The latter, in order to combat 
with success the arguments of sophism, the impostures of the 
pagan priesthood, and the infidelity of historians, applied them- 
selves with diligence to the study of history and chronology, 
and discussed profoundly the various systems of the ancient phi- 
losophic sects. They undertook to demonstrate the truth of 
the christian religion — by the most conclusive arguments which 
the authority of history or reason can afford ; and to show — that 
the principles admitted by the most celebrated philosophers, 
either were not at variance with it, or in the points on which 
they disagreed, they stood self-refuted, or contradicted one ano- 
ther, and were inconsistent with the dictates of right reason. 
Sometimes indeed, in the writings of these philosophers, and 
those of the epoch of which we speak, amidst a thousand absur- 
dities we discover surprising strength of genius and much natu- 
ral sagacity, and not unfrequently a rich vein of the sublimest 

e 2 



36 

morality. However, in the reign of Valens the Platonic phi- 
losophy received a severe check. Some of its professors, by the 
aid of the black art, had ventured to predict, that this emperor's 
successor would bear a name which began with the initials 
Theod. The jealous emperor in revenge caused all of that sect 
who had the misfortune to fall into his hands, indiscriminately, 
to be put to death, and their writings to be committed to the 
flames. Such was the rigor with which this inhuman and not 
less stupid ordinance was executed, that an infinite number of 
the best productions of antiquity in every kind, were sacrificed 
on the occasion, and utterly lost to posterity. 

Among the christians of this age many were distinguished for 
their genius and erudition, whose writings would do honor to 
any era. Such were — Pamphilus, Eusebius, Arnobius, Lac- 
tantiusj the Gregories, the Basils, &c. These celebrated cha- 
racters employed much of their time and labors in the instruc- 
tion of their people : and, in the midst of the most troublesome 
occurrences, the bishops and the clergy, influenced by motives 
the most powerful that can act upon the human heart, exerted 
their utmost efforts in order to enlighten the minds of their fel- 
low creatures — relative to their original destination, the grand 
truths of religion, the true happiness of man, and the eternal 
recompence which awaits the just in the life to come. The ex- 
traordinary merit of the bishops ensured to them the highest ve- 
neration throughout the church, and an authority next to abso- 
lute over the faithful. 

The honors which they every where received, excited the am- 
bition of the envious, and caused them to aspire with ardour to 
ecclesiastical preferment ; this proved, eventually, the source of 
much mischief, and of schisms in the church. Donatus, Collu- 
thus and Arius, were characters of this description. The 
church had condemned the errors of Sabellius, Praxeas and 
Noetus, who in the preceding age had pretended, that the three 
Divine Persons of the blessed Trinity were nothing more than 
simple denominations, given to the same divine substance — in 
order to denote the various operations of the divinity : but it 
had not thought proper to explain — in what manner the three 
Divine Persons actually existed in the self-same substance. Ari- 
us would needs undertake to elucidate the mystery. He ima- 
gined that the three Divine Persons of the blessed Trinity were 
three distinct substances, and that the Father alone was increat- 
ed. Consequently, the Son, according to his new system, was 
a mere creature ; an inference which Macedonius afterwards ex- 
tended to the Holy Ghost. 

In combating the system of Arius, Apollinaris adduced an 
infinite number of clear texts out of Holy Scripture, to prove 
the Divinity of Jesus Christ; from which, however, he errone- 
ously inferred, that our blessed Saviour had not a human but 



- 37 

only a sensitive soul, the divinity in him supplying its place. 
This false doctrine the church equally condemned with that of 
other innovators of the age ; — Audeus, Bonosus, Helvidius and 
Jovinian ; — the Collyridians, the barefooted brethren, the Mes- 
salians, thePriscillianists, &c. These jarring sects were the cause of 
great disorders in the empire, and often were engaged in intes- 
tine broils. Africa and the East were torn in pieces with the 
schism of the Donatists, and the heresy of Arius. Every reli- 
gious dispute under the successors of Constantine was consider- 
ed an affair of state ; and those whom the court, whether itself 
orthodox or otherwise, was pleased to deem unorthodox, were 
exiled, dismissed from office, or forfeited their estates. An in- 
finite number of subjects on these occasions emigrated into Ara- 
bia and Persia, and among other barbarous nations which sur- 
rounded the Roman empire : those that remained, seemed for 
the most part, to center their contentment in the destruction of 
the adverse party. New heresies and new schisms succeeded 
one a; other in this turbulent state of things ; and the church 
long deplored the mischiefs occasioned by those of Antioch, in 
which prejudice, the passions, and an ungoverned zeal, as- 
sumed a thousand different disguises, counterfeiting piety and 
the love of truth. 



Fifth age. 

The great Theodosius had in vain attempted to stem the tide 
of the reigning disorders in the preceding age. Unfortunately, 
his children were formed under the tuition of favourites — ambi- 
tious, ill-principled and totally devoid of all exalted views. 
They were left by him masters of the empire very young : Ar- 
cadius had the East, and Honorius the West. At the head of 
the administration were Rufinus and Stilico. Rufinus — of an art- 
ful, insinuating, adulatory disposition, whose avarice was insati- 
able and ambition boundless, was all-powerful in the East. He 
unfeelingly oppressed the people, sold the dignities of the state 
to men of the basest character, and rendered government odious 
and intolerable to the subject. His conduct could not fail of 
raising him many enemies, who accused him of aspiring to the 
empire ; and he was put to death by the order of the emperor 
his master. He was succeeded by another favorite court- minion 
vicious as himself, — Eutropius the eunuch. This man fell a 
sacrifice to the resentment of Eudocia, — not for his unheard of 
cruelties and other crimes, by which he had brought ruin on the 
empire ; but for his disrespectful behaviour towards a haughty 
female. Eudocia in her turn became absolute. She was a wo- 
man whose ruling passion was avarice : her counsellors were the 
ladies of the court, with the eunuchs that surrounded her. Un- 



38 

der her influence were renewed all the disorders which charac- 
terised the administration of Rufinus and Eutropius. 

Mean while Arcadius, insensible to the evils of the state, was 
busily employed in the detection of unorthodoxy ; and while 
Rufinus and Eutropius abused at pleasure in the most wanton 
manner, the authority entrusted to them, this imbecile prince 
turned his whole attention exclusively to the aggrandisement of 
the church ; which he imagined he did effectually by banishing 
those officers of his court, who were found to err in faith, how- 
ever inconsiderable might be their error, and however great in 
other respects, their merit. His son Theodosius, trained in the 
same school, and formed like his father under the discipline of 
eunuchs and intriguing courtiers, passed his days in inglorious 
ease and voluptuary indolence, while the hands of barbarians, 
and the rapacity of his own officers, despoiled and drained the 
provinces of all their remaining wealth. Patriotism, in every 
breast was now extinct ; and thousands continued to migrate 
into foreign countries. 

Marcian, who succeeded Theodosius in the empire, resolved 
to correct these internal disorders ; but lived not long enough to 
accomplish his design. Leo I. Zeno, Basiliscus, Anastasius, — 
the creatures of faction, occupied successively the imperial 
throne. They were weak and voluptuous princes, who sacri- 
ficed every thing to their avarice, their cruelty and vicious dis- 
position. , 

At the period when Rufinus reigned under the auspices of 
Arcadius in the East, Stilico was equally despotic in the West 
under Honorius, and like the former, came to an untimely end. 
The empire was full of disaffected subjects; — of heretics whom 
Honorius and his predecessors had despoiled of their effects and 
the dignities which they enjoyed; — and of unfortunate families, 
which the rapacity of the governors, and excessive extortion, had 
reduced to the most ruinous condition. After the death of 
Stilico, these poor people rose in mutiny; and the ministers 
who succeeded him, were incapable of quelling the sedition: 
others were substituted in their place, as unqualified as their 
predecessors. Honorius had not the discernment necessary to 
choose an able minister ; and those amongst his courtiers who 
were qualified, did not wish to recommend one of that descrip- 
tion. On the sudden stept forth three pretenders to the em- 
pire. England no longer formed a Roman province; the 
towns in Gaul, erecting themselves into so many small inde- 
pendent states, joined in a league for their mutual defence 
against the Alani, the Vandals and the Suevi. The lat- 
ter, intimidated by this formidable combination, opened them- 
selves a passage over the Pyrenean mountains, and entered 
Spain ; where they finally established themselves in certain pro- 
vinces of that country. 



39 

Thus the Western empire under Honorius was in the most 
dreadful state of confusion. Alaric took and pillaged Rome 5 
Atolphus, his successor, seized Languedoc, and the Burgun- 
dians subjugated a part of Gaul. Upon the death of Honorius, 
his chief secretary John assumed the imperial ornaments, and 
was acknowledged by the whole empire. This prince was taken 
prisoner by Theodosius's army, and delivered to Valentinian 
nephew to the former, by whose orders he was put to death. 
Valentinian permitted himself to be governed by court favourites 
and eunuchs. Under his reign the Vandals made themselves 
masters of a great part of Africa ; Gaul and Italy were ravaged 
by the Huns, and England by the Picts. Maximus, whose 
wife Valentinian had used dishonourably, revenged the affront 
by his death, and placed himself upon the throne. He took to 
his bed Eudocia widow to Valentinian — against her will. This 
lady, in resentment of the injury, invited Genseric into Italy. 
Genseric laid waste the territories of the empire ; and once 
more did unhappy Rome become a prey to the rapacity and 
brutality of Gothic insolence. Maximus was murdered by his 
own subjects, and was succeeded by Avitus, who himself was 
quickly compelled to abdicate the imperial dignity. Majorinus 
followed, and was assassinated by Ricimer. The patrician 
Severus, Majorinus's friend, seized the reins of government, 
and shared a similar fate from the hands of the treacherous 
Ricimer. After an interregnum of twenty months, Anthemius 
took upon himself the title of emperor, and reigned five years ; 
when he also fell by the perfidy of the turbulent and ambitious 
Ricimer, who next preferred Olybrius to the throne. Glyceri- 
us, count of the household, deposed Olybrius, and was himself 
superseded by Nepos. Nepos, too, was obliged to give place 
to Orestes, who proclaimed his son Romulus emperor, under 
the name of Augustulus. The partisans of Nepos invited into 
Italy Odoacer king of Bohemia, who defeated Orestes, and 
caused him to be put to death. Odoacer thus became master of 
Italy ; although, contenting himself with his title of king, he 
did not assume that of emperor. He was a prince respected 
and adored by his subjects. Britain at this epoch fell a prey to 
the Saxons; and the Goths and Visigoths established them- 
selves in Gaul. Thus was the Roman dynasty annihilated in 
the West. 

Polytheism had still its votaries, who, notwithstanding the 
edicts of the emperors, and the efforts of the christians, exerted 
their utmost ingenuity in its defence, and imputed all the mis- 
fortunes which befel the empire to its downfal. 1 he christians 
were not backward in refuting the pretensions of their adver- 
saries ; and these disputes cherished the love of philosophy and 
of erudition, equally among the champions of truth and false- 
hood. Their philosophy was altogether theological, and turned 



4d 

wholly upon religious disquisition ; — Pythagoreanism andPlaton- 
ism, accommodated to the Pagan mythology, — with a view to 
its justification by its votaries, and applied by christian contro- 
versialists for the purpose of defeating it with its own weapons. 
Arcadius and Honorius, who reigned in the early part of the 
fifth century, convinced that Theodosius owed his glory and 
prosperity to the fervour of his piety and zeal, — without at- 
tributing any thing to his civil and military talents, enacted 
laws against heretics and pagans, still more severe than those 
of Theodosius ; and their example was followed by Theodo- 
sius II, by Marcian, and succeeding emperors. Thus did learn- 
ing and the sciences, which had produced at the commencement 
of the fifth age an abundant harvest of great men, sensibly decay ; 
nay, almost totally disappear at the close of the same century : and, 
in fact, a government which can imagine it a sacred duty to extir- 
pate error with fire and sword, confines its liberality to vile inform- 
ers and executioners, while it abandons literary merit and the 
sciences to starve, and even looks upon them with an eye of jea- 
lousy as innovations dangerous to the state. However, the barba- 
rism of the fifth age did not proceed so far. Poetry, eloquence and 
history, which had been cultivated with success in the preceding 
century, and at the commencement of the fifth, were still patro- 
nised at court ; and the empress Eudocia consort to Theodosius 
II. composed sacred poems, and occasionally pronounced public 
harangues in person. Nor was Theodosius himself niggardly in 
rewarding his panegyrists. But every other merit gave way to 
that of a fiery and indiscriminating zeal against the authors of 
heterodox opinions : virtue was but of secondary importance : the 
defects and even the crimes of zealots were easily overlooked ; 
while their hypocrisy passed for piety, and their pharisaical seve- 
rity cast a veil over their personal disorders. Meanwhile some 
of the most bigoted opposers of error recently condemned, be- 
came themselves the authors or abettors of new doctrines, and 
themselves with equal obstinacy maintained their innovations 
proscribed and anathematised by the catholic church. Of this 
description was Nestorius a disciple of Theodorus of Mopsues- 
tia, who in combating Apollinaris, thought he had discovered 
in Holy Scripture, that in Jesus Christ the human soul was to- 
tally distinct and separate from the Word, although instructed 
and directed by the Divinity : misled by these false principles 
Nestorius concluded, that the divinity resided in the humanity as 
in its temple, and was no otherwise united to the humanity ; and 
that of course, there were two persons in Jesus Christ ; — the 
Word,— eternal, infinite, increated ; — and man, who was a finite 
and created being : whatever went to unite in one person the 
Divine and the human nature appeared to him a contradiction, 
and repugnant to the faith of the church. The title of Mother 
of God ordinarily given to the blessed Virgin, seemed to him 



41 

equally inconsistent with that faith. The people protested 
against this his novel doctrine ; while Nestorius, through court 
influence, was enabled to bear down all opposition by the rigors 
of confinement and the scourge. St Cyril, archbishop of Alex- 
andria, took up his pen against Nestorius ; and the whole church 
was quickly made acquainted with the subject of their contest. 
At length a general council was assembled at Ephesus, which 
condemned the heresiarch, and, after much tumult and confu- 
sion, Theodosius forbade the Nestorians to hold their assemblies; 
banished their leading men into Arabia, and confiscated their 
property. Many temporized, and cherished as it were the sparks 
of division under the embers of Nestorianism, without being 
styled themselves Nestorians. 

A certain Nestorian refugee in Persia, availing himself of the 
hatred which the Persians had imbibed against the Roman 
name, found means to establish Nestorianism upon the ruins of 
catholicity in that kingdom. Thence it diffused itself over all 
Asia ; where, in succeeding ages, it seems to have formed a con- 
stituent part of the religion of the Lamas. The extreme rigor 
exercised upon the abettors of Nestorianism in the East, owed 
its birth to Eutyches, a monk in great repute for sanctity, and 
all-powerful at court. In his ardor to suppress the erroneous 
doctrine of Nestorius, he adopted expressions which confounded 
the two natures in Jesus Christ, and taught that he had only one, 
pretending that the human nature was absorbed by the Divinity, 
as a drop of water when thrown into the ocean. 

This man's influence at court bore him out against the autho- 
rity of a council held at Constantinople, and procured another 
to be assembled in his favor, over which presided his friend 
Dioscorus of Alexandria. Here every thing was carried by vio- 
lence and faction — with such unblushing effrontery, that this pre- 
tended council was justly denominated the cabal of Ephesus. Its 
decrees notwithstanding, Theodosius II. enforced with his im- 
perial authority. Marcian who succeeded him, caused a synod 
to be convened at Chalcedon ; which condemned Eutychianism, 
but could not suppress the insolence of its sectaries, who filled 
the Eastern empire with sedition and with bloodshed. In the 
midst of these horrors a thousand frivolous questions were agi- 
tated by the party ; upon which they split, and formed an infinite 
number of ridiculous and obscure sects, one persecuting the other 
with unabated fury. 

While thus these enthusiasts endeavoured to introduce a new 
creed in the East, other innovators attacked the dogmas of Chris- 
tianity upon grace, the liberty of man,- and his perversion, in the 
West. Some of these pretended, that by the sole efficacy of our 
free will, independently of divine grace, we may attain the su- 
blimest pitch of virtue : others, in the opposite extreme, with 
our modern grand reformers Luther and Calvin, subjected man 



42 

to & blind destiny which left him neither liberty nor choice. Of 
the former class were the Pelagians and Semipelagians ; of the 
latter, the Predestinarians. None, however, of these last men- 
tioned errors, were attended with consequences mischievous to 
the state,, 



Sixth age of the christian era, 

Anastasius was emperor in the East at the commencement of" 
the sixth century. Under this prince every thing was venal. 
He oppressed his subjects with intolerable taxes, — productive of 
insurrections in the provinces, and of sedition at Constantino- 
ple itself. The empire was assaulted from without by the Per- 
sians, the Bulgarians, the Arabians, and the barbarous hordes 
of the North ; while the governors in their turn committed 
the most tyrannical vexations, the fruits of which they shared 
with Anastasius. The Eutychians too, whom Zeno had in vain 
attempted to re-unite with the catholics, were in open rebellion ; 
and, at length, Anastasius himself thought fit to espouse their 
party. Vitalian, one of the generals of the empire, put himself 
at the head of the catholics, defeated the troops sent against 
him, and compelled the frantic emperor to desist from perse- 
cution. 

Such was the state of the empire when the soldiery raised 
Justin to the throne. From a common soldier — without in- 
terest, and ignorant of the first elements of literature, his merit 
had gradually elevated him to the sovereign power. Nor did 
his virtue here forsake him. He governed with much prudence, 
and exerted equal vigor and zeal in favour of the catholic reli- 
lion, as Anastasius had done to effect its ruin. Justin was suc- 
ceeded by his nephew Justinian, who waged a successful w r ar 
against the Huns and Persians, and gained great glory in the 
conquest of Italy from the Goths by his two renowned generals 
Belisarius and Narses. But what added more to the glory of 
his reign than the splendor of his victories, was a new code of 
laws which he took care to have selected for the use and happi- 
ness of his subjects. The Eutychians continued to embroil the 
state ; and, in order to give a check to their fury, he enacted 
against them many severe ordinances, expelled from their sees 
the bishops of that party, and greatly reduced the sect itself; 
so much so, that Eutychianism seemed nearly extinct through- 
out the boundaries of the empire, till in the close of this prince's 
reign it again began to lift its head. His nephew and successor 
Justin II. was an effeminate and a vicious prince, during a great 
part of whose reign the empire was perpetually exposed to the 
ravages of barbarians. After Justin's decease, Tiberius was 
invested with the imperial dignity. Maurice succeeded Tiberius, 



43 

and gained great advantages over the foreign enemies of the 
state. He replaced the Persian Chosroes upon the throne ; but 
lost his own authority together with his life, by the rebellion 
of Phocas, on whom the army conferred the title of Augustus. 

Italy and the West had been severed from the empire to- 
wards the close of the preceding century. After a long and 
bloody contest, during which Rome was repeatedly taken and 
retaken by the contending parties, Belisarius and Narses re- 
conquered Italy in the name of Justinian their master. In 
Gaul, the Burgundians, Francs and Visigoths were almost in- 
cessantly at war. The Francs who in the fifth century were 
divided into a variety of independent tribes, — the Salii, the Re- 
puarii, the Catti, &c. united under Clovis. That prince sub- 
sequently reduced the greatest part of Gaul, and established his 
seat of empire at Paris, where he ended his days in 511, having 
previously embraced the christian religion. His children divided 
their father's dominions. Thierri reigned at Metz, Childebert 
at Paris, Clothaire at Soissons, and Clodomir at Orleans. 
Clothaire, by repeated murders and the most atrocious crimes, 
re-united these different principalities, which he again retailed 
amongst his four children. These were perpetually at war, 
either by their own choice, or through the intrigues of Frede- 
gonda — a woman of a turbulent spirit, extraordinary courage, 
and an ambition which stuck not at crimes of the blackest die, 
when necessary to effect its wicked purposes. 

In Africa and in Spain the Goths and Vandals were always 
engaged either in civil broils with one another, or in wars 
against the Romans. Great Britain, during the whole of this 
century, struggled for its liberty with the Saxons, Jutes, and 
Angles, who eventually established their empire (styled the 
Heptarchy from its famous partition into seven kingdoms) in 
that devoted island. 

In this so general and violent perturbation of mankind, we 
may easily infer what must have been the decay of learning and 
science. The rude barbarians who had subjugated nations 
more polished than themselves, were indebted to their courage, 
and sometimes to their treachery, for success ; and valued no 
other arts than those of managing with effect the buckler and 
the sword, or of dexterously outwitting their enemy : literature 
and the polite arts they left to men without courage, and esteem- 
ed them below the notice of warriors who had subdued the 
kingdoms of the West. Ignorance, of course, at the com- 
mencement of the sixth century, made rapid progress: whatever 
was not written in the vulgar rustic style became unintelligible 
to the public. Only in the towns where a bishop held his resi- 
dence, and in the asylums of monastic perfection, were schools 
of literature and theology ; and these solitary mansions were the 
retreat alike— of virtue, and of learning. Nor did the bishops 

JP 2 



44 

view with an eye of indifference — the unhappy ignorance of their 
pagan conquerors relative to religion ; and they undertook to 
diffuse among them the light of faith. The barbarism of these 
people required, however, something more than mere human 
literature for their instruction ; — something more striking to the 
senses. The Divine Goodness, in his views of mercy upon 
them, was pleased to make use of miracles, in order to work a 
salutary impression upon their . mind. Of these a surprizing 
number accordingly took place — at the tombs of St Martin, of 
St Germanus, and many other saints ; prodigies so well attest- 
ed, and in their nature so unequivocal, that the pastors of the 
church held them out to infidels as an undeniable and exclusive 
test of the true religion ; the evidence of which, and of the 
striking interposition of Providence in other instances, effected 
the conversion of Clovis the Great, with the entire nation of 
the Francs. 

However, we must not be surprised if, at this unenlightened 
epoch, we find false miracles blended with the true, and many 
fictitious narratives of prodigies, apparitions and revelations, 
which the shallow criticism of the times was not always qualified 
to detect : and as ignorance kept pace with the credulity of the 
age, certain practices of pagan origin were very generally adopt- 
ed by the people. Some imagined, that a special Providence 
conducted the hand that casually opened any book of holy scrip- 
ture ; and that the first verse contained the solution of each per- 
plexing difficulty. Adrian had formerly employed the JEneid 
for that purpose. King Chilperic gravely wrote a letter to St 
Martin, and caused it to be placed upon his tomb. In this let- 
ter he begged the saint to have the goodness to inform him 
— whether he could without a crime drag a certain person forcibly 
from his church, to which he had retired for protection ! 

Others were persuaded that Providence would not suffer per- 
jury, falsehood, or any crime against which justice was demand- 
ed, to go unpunished ; and that it would never permit the inno- 
cent to perish, in whatever awkward circumstances they might 
chance to be involved. Hence originated all those various kinds 
of ordeals — by water, by fire, by subjecting the parties to attest 
their innocence upon oath ; by single combat, and the like ; 
which superstitious methods of justification were termed — very 
improperly — the judgment of God. 

Persons notoriously wicked, and those who were guilty of 
public crimes, when they wished to dive into futurity, or to 
escape condemnation, implored the aid of evil spirits in lieu of 
that of the saints : these had recourse to necromancy, magic 
and various kinds of witchcraft. 

. Such was the state of morality and of learning in the sixth age ; 
while a multitude of frivolous disputes were agitated concerning 
religion. The errors of Arius, of Apollinaris, 'Nestorius and 



' 45 

Eutyches, had introduced into the study of theology the subtilties 
of dialectics; and by degrees, as ignorance gained ground, 
queries regarding the union of the divine and human nature — 
trifling in the extreme, not to say indelicate and disrespectful, 
became the matter of serious discussion. Thus, the Eutycliians 
examined whether or not the body of our blessed Redeemer 
transpired, or whether it stood in need of nourishment : they di- 
vided upon these important questions; while one Timotheus 
was busily investigating, whether since the union of the divine 
and human nature, Jesus Christ could be ignorant of any thing. 
Some Scythian monks, with a view to explain in the clearest 
manner against the Nestorians — the union of the divine and hu- 
man nature, insisted, that one of the blessed Tiinity had suffered, 
and pretended it was necessary, that this proposition should 
be adopted as a rule of faith. Certain catholics, fearing it might 
be construed in favor of Eutychianism, rejected it. The clergy, 
the people, and the court, took part in this dispute. The em- 
peror declared himself against the monks : they were patronized 
by Vitalian who had already protected the catholic cause against 
Anastasius. However, the use of the above proposition was 
eventually interdicted, as productive of commotion in the state 
and threatening the empire with civil war. On the other hand, 
from the proscription of the above proposition some inferred, 
that it was absolutely false; and that if it were true to say that 
one of the three Divine Persons had not suffered, it were like- 
wise true to say that one of the Blessed Trinity did not become 
man, and consequently, that the Virgin Mary was not truly mo- 
ther of God. 

This was a consequence pregnant with still greater mischief 
than the proposition itself; and it was finally defined, that in 
fact one of the blessed Trinity had suffered. 

When the Eutychian fanaticism began to subside, certain 
monks of Palestine gave much of their time to the perusal of the 
works of Origen, and adopted many of his errors. Other fel- 
low monks warmly combated these errors; and the contest was 
attended with violent tumults throughout Palestine. The 
writings of Origen were condemned. The emperor Justinian, 
who was much too fond of interfering in ecclesiastical affairs, 
published an edict anathematizing Theodorus of Mopsuestia, 
together with his writings, those of Theodoret against St Cyril, 
and the letter of Ibas which had been read in the council of 
Chalcedon. This undue interference of the imperial authority 
was productive of much serious contestation in the church, and 
the violence of party. Nor was the point in contest authorita- 
tively decided before the convocation of the fifth general council 
held at Constantinople in 553; when the writings above alluded to 
were finally proscribed, and are vulgarly denominated — The 
Three Chapters. They were, in fact, highly reprehensible : but 



46 

their authors, after signing a catholic formula of faith, had been 
admitted to communion by the council of Chalcedon — without a 
formal condemnation of the books in question. Hence originat- 
ed the misunderstanding between catholics and the enemies of 
the Chalcedonian synod on this subject. 

Semipelagianism, which had made some progress in Gaul, was 
condemned by the council of Orange ; while the Francs, the 
Angles and the Saxons, embraced the christian religion ; and 
the Goths, Sueves and Heruli, renounced Arianism. Thus 
the whole Western empire was catholic — in union with the holy 
see, and professed submission to the church of Rome ; — a 
church which, in fact, had always borne a principal part in the 
conversion of infidels and heretics. In the very midst of the 
disorder and confusion which universally prevailed — the faith of 
this catholic church was pure as its morality ; error, abuses and 
deordination of every kind, it equally reproved. Of this the 
decrees of councils and ecclesiastic canons bear unquestionable 
evidence : every where it hath produced men illustrious for 
sanctity, and virtues no where else to be found : religion alone 
hath rescued us from the frightful state of barbarism in which 
those savage tribes, who invaded and destroyed the empire of 
the West, were originally ingulfed 5 religion alone hath made 
the difference. 



Seventh century of the christian era. 

At the commencement of the seventh age reigned Phocas, — a 
tyrant possessed of every vice which can reflect disgrace upon 
humanity, without one single desirable quality to countervene the 
general depravity of his heart. While this wretch was amusing 
himself with the ruin of his subjects and the effusion of their 
blood, the barbarians on their side overran the territories of the 
empire, and filled them with carnage and desolation. Heracli- 
us stept forth, and delivered the state from both its internal and 
external foes. He wrested the provinces out of the hands of the 
Persians, and spread the terror of his arms from the East to the 
West. The empire of Constantinople still comprised a part of 
Italy, Greece, Thrace, Mesopotamia and Syria ; — Palestine, 
Egypt and Africa : but these vast domains had been depopulated 
by the continual wars which the empire had to sustain ; — the 
ravages of barbarians; — the absolute and arbitrary power of 
cruel and avaricious governors ; and the extreme severity of the 
imperial edicts against every denomination of sectarists. The 
subjects that still remained, groaned under the weight of oppres- 
sion ; and the empire could no longer be considered by any as 
their native country. Thus, in order to effect its entire destruc- 
tion — a catastrophe which had already taken place in regard of 



. 47 

the western provinces, nothing was now wanted but a people 
moderately powerful, to attempt it. Such a state the emperors 
themselves had long been gradually forming. In the midst of 
the wars which desolated the rest of mankind, the Arabians had 
enjoyed their liberty in peace. With them, had taken refuge 
the disaffected and the unfortunate, and all the sectaries pro- 
scribed by the impolitic ordinances of the empire, from Constan- 
tine to Heraclius. They allowed to all the unrestricted liberty 
of practising their religion. There was a confused medley of 
idolaters, Jews and christians, together with the various sects 
which had appeared since the first commencement of Christiani- 
ty. The love of liberty and independence had hitherto kept 
them disunited. Upon two articles — all, except the idolaters, 
were agreed ; namely, that there was but one God, and that 
Jesus Christ had been sent into the world to make him known, 
and to deliver unto men the rules of perfect morality. Mahomet 
undertook to reduce Christianity to these two points — with a 
view to reunite all the christians of Arabia in one common 
league against catholicity. He had all the necessary qualifica- 
tions for such an undertaking : he was possessed of a strong ima- 
gination ; was naturally inclined to fanaticism, — ambitious, and 
of a hot and fiery temper. He saw the absurdity of idol-worship, 
and was easily persuaded that he had a commission from Al- 
mighty God to teach men a pure religion, which, he fancied, 
was revealed in a special manner to himself. His mercantile 
profession made him known to the christians of Syria, to those 
of the East, and his native country Arabia. He declared himself 
the reformer of Christianity, and pretended that the angel Ga- 
briel had appeared to him, and commanded him to teach the 
tribe to which he belonged — the unity of God, and the perfect 
rules of moral virtue. He gave it out, that he had been favored 
with wonderful ecstacies ; communicated his enthusiasm to the 
ignorant, by promising those that should receive his doctrine, 
the most magnificent rewards ; and described to them in the 
most lively colours, the delights reserved in paradise for true 
believers. A small number actually believed him to be inspired, 
and seriously embraced his doctrine ; while others called in ques- 
tion his pretended mission, and obliged him to consult his safety 
by flight. After encountering and surmounting many difficul- 
ties, he was at length received by his own tribe as a prophet and 
an apostle sent of God. His eventual success, his natural 
fanaticism, and the obstacles themselves with which he had to 
struggle, enlarged his views and augmented his temerity. He 
now conceived the vast project of subjecting every tribe, and 
all the nations of the earth, to his new invented code of supersti- 
tion. 

It was Mahomet's plan to effect his purposes by force of arms. 
His disciples were trained up to the art of war, as became the 



48 

ftpostles of blood. " I myself," said Ali to him, when he took the* 
oath of fidelity, " even I will be thy minister ; I will break 
the teeth, I will tear out the eyes, I will rip up the belly of those 
that shall oppose thee." Mahomet promised paradise to such as 
should die fighting for his religion ; and, within less than ten years 
he united in his cause all the Arabian tribes ; received embassies 
from all the sovereigns of the peninsula ; sent his apostles and 
lieutenants into distant countries, and wrote to the Roman 
emperor Heraclius, and to the king of Persia, in order to engage 
them to embrace his new religion. 

Abubeker, who succeeded Mahomet, having annihilated the 
factions of other impostors like himself, bent the whole energy 
of his Arabs against the neighbouring states. He wrote to the 
princes of Hiemen, the chiefs of Meccha, and Mussulmans 
throughout the whole extent of Arabia, to muster the greatest 
number possible of troops, and march them to Medina. " I 
am going," says he to them, " to deliver Syria out of the hands 
of infidels; and I wish you to understand, that in combating 
for our religion, you obey the order of God." Presently a 
prodigious multitude of Arabians assemble at Medina, — destitute 
of the means of subsistence, but ready with cheerful hearts, and 
without a murmur, to march in any direction the moment that 
the army should be completed. He sent them against the 
Greeks and Persians ; and before the death of Omar, who 
succeeded Abubeker, they had subjugated a part of Persia ; 
made settlements in Africa, and in Egypt ; demolished four 
thousand temples — of idolaters, christians and Persians ; and 
erected, during His reign alone, fourteen hundred mosques. 
Under Omar's successor Othman, the whole of Persia submitted 
to the Arabs ; and the king of Nubia was made tributary to this 
calif. Under Ali civil broils and intestine divisions interrupted 
for a while the rapidity of their conquests. Moavia found means 
to re-unite them ; and caused a traditionary notion to be spread 
abroad, importing that the Mussulmans were destined to reduce 
the capital of the Cesars, and that those who should be employ- 
ed in the siege, were to receive a full and absolute pardon of all 
their sins. The Mahometans flocked from all quarters to the 
standard of the calif, unintimidated by the perils, and unbroken 
by the hardships of the enterprise; which, however, did not 
succeed according to their expectations. In vain, notwith- 
standing, did Heraclius endeavour to stem the career of his 
formidable enemies ; and Constantine his son was compelled to 
cede to them the provinces which they had seized, on condition 
only, that they should allow him a certain tribute by way of 
compromise. 

Jyazid, the succeeding calif, followed up his conquests in the 
East, subdued Korazan, and laid the territories of the prince 
of Samarcand under contribution, although the Arabians were 



49 

still at variance among themselves. The Constantinopolitan em- 
perors were yet in possession of some territory in Italy, while 
the Lombards occupied the most considerable part. That por- 
tion of Italy subject to the Eastern empire was divided into 
duchies dependant on the exarchs of Ravenna, as the exarch 
himself was upon the emperor. Each, however, of these petty 
powers was ambitious to assert their independence. The Lom- 
bards, in their turn, neglected no opportunity of aggrandise- 
ment, and rendered abortive all the efforts of the Eastern em- 
perors, to re-establish their authority in Italy. France was 
portioned out into provinces, the chiefs or kings of which at 
first carried on a cruel war against each other, and then aban- 
doned themselves without reserve to the pursuit of pleasure, 
indulged in effeminacy and sloth, and left the charge of govern- 
ment to a minister of state, designated by the title of Mayor of 
the Palace. In Spain, the sovereign power gradually devolved 
on those of the nobility, whom their fellow nobles thought fit to 
invest with regal dignity. These haughty and ambitious noble- 
men were much addicted to faction and intrigue, and not un- 
frequently assassinated their sovereigns, and usurped their 
throne. Thus, no less than fourteen kings reigned in their 
turn in Spain, during the course of this century ; and of that 
number one half were dethroned, or murdered by the traiterous 
hands of unprincipled usurpers. Religious zeal was sometimes 
alleged as the motive or pretext of these conspirators. Almost 
all of them assembled councils to procure the condemnation of 
their predecessors, and to justify their own intrusion, Hence, 
during the lapse of this one century, were held nineteen synods 
in Spain alone. 

In these synods, it is true, many wise and useful regulations 
were adopted relative to morality and social life. They excom- 
municate those subjects who scruple not to violate their allegiance 
to their sovereign ; while they earnestly exhort all kings to govern 
with justice, and with piety: against those who should abuse 
their power to the committing of evil, they solemnly denounce 
anathema. 

The Saxons who had conquered England, had apportioned 
it into seven kingdoms ; but their kings were perpetually at war, 
until, happily for their subjects and themselves, they all embraced 
the christian religion. Many monasteries of men and religious 
retreats for nuns were established and endowed by these princes, 
with a liberality truly royal ; and some of them exchanged their 
sceptres for the silence and retirement of these asylums of per- 
fect virtue. 

The general state of literature and the polite arts continued to 
decline : while religious fanaticism in the East, and an undis- 
ceming partiality for the marvellous, had absorbed almost all 
the faculties of the human mind, in the West, the continual 



50 

wars of ferocious barbarians had left no leisure for the cultiva-* 
tion of science. Religion alone afforded a proper antidote 
against the pressure of such evils. The zeal and piety of the 
bishops, the sacerdotal order, and the monks, had in part reliev- 
ed the unfortunate, consoled the miserable, and arrested the fury 
of savage conquerors, who notwithstanding their ferocity could 
not deny respect to virtue, nor hear without dismay the chastise- 
ments denounced against them — of a future world. The bishops 
remarked it ; and, in union with the clergy and the monks, they 
turned their whole attention towards piety, and the practice of 
virtues the best calculated — to make a wholesome impression up- 
on the minds of the haughty conquerors of the West ; — to render 
the christian religion recommendable ; — to allure them to the ob- 
servance of its precepts, and to rescue them from the tyranny of 
their furious passions. At length, however, the necessity of self- 
defence against fresh invaders, forced even churchmen to fly to 
arms ; and thus, becoming warriors themselves, they many of 
them relapsed into a state of ignorance and barbarism not much 
inferior to that of their oppressors. 

Religion, notwithstanding, still opposed a powerful barrier to 
the passions, to ignorance and incivilization : she alone produced 
those striking instances of virtue which still appeared upon the 
earth ; she alone afforded to letters and the sciences those sacred 
retreats where they labored in silence to soften the manners, and 
to enlighten the understanding of the ignorant — by forming a 
multitude of admirable characters, whose virtues secured to them 
the confidence of the sovereign and the veneration of the people; 
and whose lights were equally useful to them both. Such, for 
instance, were many popes and bishops ; St Gregory the Great, 
St Leo II, St Isidore, St Julian of Toledo, St Sulpicius, 
St Columban and others, who almost every where established 
monasteries, and schools of piety and learning. 

The church had defined — against Nestorius, that in Jesus 
Christ there was but one person; and, against Eutyches, it 
taught two distinct natures. The Eutychians pretended, that 
their doctrine could not be condemned by the church, without 
admitting with the Nestorians two distinct persons in Christ; 
the Nestorians on the contrary, maintained, that in condemning 
Nestorius, the church had fallen into Sabellianism, and had con- 
founded, with Eutyches, the divine and human nature. The 
difficulty then was, to explain how two distinct natures could 
subsist in one and the self same person. Some would have it, 
that in Jesus Christ the Word was the only active principle, and 
that the human will was absolutely passive, like an instrument in 
the hands of the artist. Heraclius, struck with this erroneous 
idea, assembled a council, and then caused an edict to be pub- 
lished in which Monothelitism, or the error which implies only 
one will in Christ, was made a rule of faith, and established by 



51 

an imperial law. Thus did that prince forfeit the glory which 
he had acquired by his victories, for the imaginary honor of 
dictating to the church a new article of faith, and of forcing up- 
on the consciences of his subjects the innovating doctrine con- 
tained in his expository edict termed the Ecthesis. All his suc- 
cessors a long time after busied themselves in defending or op- 
posing the Monothelite heresy, while the provinces groaned un- 
der the oppression of their governors and the collectors-general 
of the imperial taxes, and were continually exposed to the in- 
roads of barbarians, who poured into the empire on every side 
like an impetuous and overwhelming torrent. 

In this century also, a certain Manichean devotee in her re- 
treat among the mountains of Armenia, inspired her son with the 
enthusiastic ambition of becoming the apostle of her sect: from 
him his proselytes and the entire sect received the denomination 
of Paulicians. Paul was succeeded by Sylvanus, who under- 
took to reform the Manichean system, and to reconcile the doc- 
trine of two principles with holy scripture, and, like the re- 
formers of the present times, affected to adopt scripture alone for 
his rule of faith. Like them he accused the catholics of idolatry, 
and of adoring the saints as so many divinities. His morals 
were austere ; and many among the ignorant were taught to 
consider this new-modelled sect as a society of perfect christians. 
Thus the Paulicians multiplied prodigiously in the seventh age. 



Eighth century of the christian era. 

The empire of the Califs was indisputably the most powerful 
monarchy of any in the East: it extended from Canton in 
China, to the southern extremities of Spain, and comprised 
within its boundaries many provinces which constituted hereto- 
fore a part of the Constantinopolitan empire. The governors of 
the conquered provinces, who at first had treated them with 
mildness, afterwards became their tyrants; and the ambitious 
and the disaffected failed not to improve the general discontent 
into open rebellion ; which was not quelled without great diffi- 
culty, and much loss of blood. The conquest of Spain, and the 
inroads of the conquerors into Gaul, cost the lives of an infinite 
number of Arabs, Goths and Francs : while the empire of Con- 
stantinople lay exposed to the depredations — in their turns — 
of Goths, Huns, Saracens and Lombards ; and was moreover 
torn in pieces by domestic faction. Justinian who had been ex- 
pelled his own dominions towards the close of the seventh cen- 
tury, was re-established upon the throne at the commencement 
of the eighth, and, eight years afterwards, was put to death. 
Philippicus who superseded him, was deposed in his turn. Ana- 
■ stasius his successor, was thrust into a monastery by Theodosins 



52 

III. whom the people compelled to accept the empire, and whom 
Leo the Isaurian despoiled of his imperial diadem, which he had 
assumed against his will. Leo reigned twenty years, and Con- 
stantine Copronymus twenty-four. His son Leo reigned but 
three. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, after a reign of seventeen 
years, was. assassinated ; his mother Irene was deposed after a 
short reign of five. Almost all the emperors that wore the purple in 
the eighth century, without attending much to the disorders of the 
state, labored very industriously either to enforce some erroneous 
doctrine regarding faith, adopted by themselves; or, more 
laudably, to restore tranquillity to the church. Philippicus, for 
instance, was hardly seated on the throne, when he converted 
his whole attention towards the establishment of Monothelitism. 
Leo the Isaurian, and Constantine Copronymus, were equally 
industrious in prohibiting the veneration paid to sacred images 
in the church ; and Irene with no less eagerness set herself to 
re-establish it. The edict of Leo the Isaurian against holy images, 
produced some insurrections in Italy ; of which the Lombards 
availed themselves with a view to their own aggrandizement. 

Pope Gregory II. issued a brief of excommunication against 
the exarch of Ravenna, who attempted to enforce the execution 
of the imperial edict ; and wrote to Luitprand, to the Vene- 
tians, and to all the principal cities of Italy, to exhort them to 
persevere stedfastly in the faith. Almost all appeared on the eve 
of insurrection and of open rebellion, which the holy pontiff 
sought in vain to tranquillize ; and the whole disposable force of 
the Eastern empire was transported into Italy. Rome suc- 
cessively owed its deliverance, first, to Luitprand, and then, to 
the renowned Charles Martel, by whom the imperialists were 
compelled once for all to fall back upon Ravenna. Under the 
conduct of Astolphus, the Lombards possessed themselves of 
the exarchate itself, and subsequently undertook the conquest of 
Rome. Pepin, second son to Charles Martel, relieved Rome, 
and rescued it from the tyranny of the Lombards, under the 
popedom of Zachary and Stephen. The church of Rome 
had never received a more noble donation than that which 
the piety of this prince now made it, namely, of the ter- 
ritory which he had conquered from the Lombards. Pepin 
smiled at the pretensions of Copronymus, who had the assu- 
rance to demand that these conquests should be restored to him ; 
although, after repeated applications for assistance against the 
Lombards, he had not been able to protect them from their 
fury, and had left them to their fate. This noble act of gene- 
rosity, and other signal services, obtained for Pepin the honour- 
able epithet of protector of the Roman people, and defender of 
the church of Rome ; — a title which became hereditary in his 
family, and appropriate to the kings of France. Pepin himself 
had been raised to the throne by the election of the states gene- 
ral, and was crowned by St Boniface the apostle of Germany, 



53 

and now a second time by Pope Stephen, at his own request. 
Rome was once more threatened by the Lombards, during the 
pontificate of Adrian, who implored the aid of Charlemagne 
against these warlike and ambitious neighbours. Charlemagne 
marched against the Lombards ; annihilated their dynasty in 
Italy ; confirmed the donations made by Pepin his father to tKe 
church ; and was crowned by Pope Leo III. emperor of the 
"West. 

This prince extended his empire from the Ebro to the Vistu- 
la, over a vast variety of uncivilized nations and savage tribes, — 
devoid alike of every principle of religion and of justice ;- —habi- 
tuated to a life of rapine and every species of licentiousness ; — 
ever ready to rise against their conquerors in despight of the 
most solemn treaties, and the most sacred engagements. The 
profound policy of Charlemagne, in order to enforce obedience 
to his laws, combined the powerful persuasives of religion with 
compulsive measures, and the terror of his arms ; while his 
vigilance and activity, joined with a spirit of heroism and an 
admirable discipline which reigned throughout his army, kept 
his foreign enemies in awe. 

England was in a state of distraction— under sovereigns who 
knew no other laws than those of their respective passions, and 
were always in arms. Religion alone was able to set bounds to 
their lawless career ; and only christian charity was qualified to 
soften their ferocious dispositions into mildness, and the peaceable 
forbearance of the gospel. To effect this, was the object of 
certain truly apostolical men, who laboured with success to 
civilize the nation, and to establish in it the faith of Christ. 

Spain, at the commencement of this century, was governed 
by a set of kings who abased their authority — to the oppression 
of their subjects. One of these invited the Saracens into Spain ; 
and they were joined by the disaffected natives. Roderic, the 
then reigning prince, was defeated ; and his territories were 
annexed to the dominions of the califs, who extended their con- 
quests even into Gaul ; whence, however, they were soon ex- 
pelled by the extraordinary valour of Charles Martel, and after- 
wards by Charlemagne. Certain Spanish fugitives in the moun- 
tains, animated by the heroism of the renowned Pelagius, gra- 
dually became formidable to the Saracens. With the aid of 
Charlemagne, they arrested the progress of their arms in Spain, 
and eventually effected their destruction. 

Literature, in the early part of this century, was still in a 
state of the utmost depression. At the birth of Mahometism, 
the Mussulmans declared war indiscriminately — against all that 
refused to embrace their superstition : the vanquished they con- 
demned to die. But after the first transports of their enthusiasm 
had subsided, they mitigated the excessive cruelty of so impo- 
litic a maxim, and for fear of changing their new-acquired ter- 



54 

ritories into one vast wilderness of destruction, they granted a 
kind of toleration to all religions, with the exception only — of 
gross idolatry. This indulgence caused great multitudes of 
christians, Jews, and other persons instructed in the arts and 
sciences, to settle in the dominions of the califs ; where they 
continued in secret to improve themselves in learning, during 
the reign of the Ommiades, till the accession of Almansor. 
This prince, and his immediate successors, encouraged letters 
and learned men ; while the emperors of Constantinople were 
wholly employed in compelling their subjects to adopt their re- 
spective innovations relative to faith, or in reconciling systems 
of belief absolutely inconsistent with each other. Among the 
few ecclesiastical writers of the eighth age, St John Damascen 
is almost the only one remarkable either for method, erudition 
or genius. 

Since the invasion of the Lombards, Italy had been appor- 
tioned into petty sovereignties, whose chiefs were incessantly 
engaged in enterprises of aggrandizement, or in measures of 
self-defence. The subject groaned under the oppressive yoke of 
tyrants ; and science and morality were alike neglected through- 
out Italy in these evil times. Only the popes, the bishops, and 
the clergy, still laboured in the acquirement of useful knowledge, 
and exerted themselves in promoting sound morality; — in restrain- 
ing the passions by the salutary dread of future punishment, and 
in making religion respectable by the edifying regularity of its 
ministers, and the august apparatus of its ceremonies — well 
caculated, especially in an age like the one in question — igno- 
rant and superstitious — to inspire the most brutal minds with 
religious awe, and to give a check to passions even the most 
impatient of control. 

In France, the arts and sciences which had taken refuge in 
the monasteries, were now banished from these sacred asylums. 
The tyranny of the mayors of the palace ; the wars of Charles 
Martel, and the licentiousness of the soldiery, filled every place 
with tumult and devastation. Ecclesiastic property was distri- 
buted by that martial prince amongst his favourite generals, 
who, instead of providing for the subsistence of a competent 
number of clergy to serve the churches, filled their colleges 
and the monasteries with soldiers. The monks and clerical 
men, thus compelled to live with the military, gradually imbibed 
their spirit, and at length were glad to serve in the armies, as 
the only expedient left to save their revenues. Ignorance and 
vice, of course, became almost general ; and towards the middle 
of the eighth century, hardly was there left in France, and in- 
deed in the whole continent of Europe, the smallest vestige of 
the fine arts ; and the monks and ecclesiastics themselves, with 
some few exceptions, were scarcely qualified to read a short 
lesson to their people. England and Ireland were now, almost 



55 

exclusively, the seats of learning and true piety. In the midst 
of this obscure night, the enlightened and comprehensive mind 
of Charlemagne, for the good of humanity and to the immor- 
tal glory of his reign, formed the project of dissipating igno- 
rance, and furnishing his subjects with the means of instruction. 
He established schools in the towns, boroughs, and villages 
throughout his vast domain, for the gratuitous education of 
children and the ignorant — of every description : he wrote to all 
the bishops and abbots, exhorting them to erect schools or uni- 
versities in their respective cathedrals and abbeys, for the laudable 
purpose of teaching there the liberal arts and sciences. He 
studied them with diligence himself, and invited into France 
the most celebrated scholars of the age; — such were, for in- 
stance, — Alcuin of York, Clement, Walnefride and others, whom 
he employed with success in the literary regeneration of Europe. 
This, however, was to be the work of time ; and the life of one 
man is not sufficient to complete a task which the degeneracy of 
whole preceding ages has been gradually increasing. 

But in the almost universal decline of intellectual improve- 
ment, the church of God still preserved its doctrine and its mo- 
rality unsullied. All its councils, and the authority of history, 
with one accord attest this truth. We behold it with equal 
energy and wisdom proscribing the impious reveries of an Adel- 
bert, and the wrangling incredulity of Clement, and of men 
who, like Clement, rejected the authority of councils and 
the Fathers, and attacked the dogma of predestination, and the 
discipline and morality of the church itself. Felix of Urgel pre- 
tended, that Jesus Christ was not the natural, but only the 
adoptive Son of God. Both Felix and Clement were condemn- 
ed, and solidly refuted. 

Thus in the midst of the disorders, and of the profound dark- 
ness which seemed to reign over the earth, the bishops, entrusted 
with the depositum of faith, continued to preserve unaltered the 
doctrine of Jesus Christ ; — his morality, and the form of worship 
which he had established in his church. 



Ninth century. 

The Saracen was still the ruling power ; but was often paralized 
by a spirit of sedition and revolt. The califs became at length 
indolent and voluptuous, and left the burden of government to 
the captain of their body guards, which consisted of mercenary 
Turks. This Turkish chief, together with the leading men at 
court, disposed at pleasure of the dignities of the state, and ere 
long, of the persons of the califs too, whom by turns they wan- 
tonly deposed, massacred, or raised to the honorary title, as they 
thought fit. The Arabs likewise began now to degenerate from 



56 

their primitive hardiness and valor ; and the neighbouring na- 
tions and Greeks made frequent inroads into their territories. 

In the Greek empire, as in that of the Saracens during the 
ninth century, nothing was more common than to behold em- 
perors — raised to the throne and deposed again, by faction ; — to 
see the empire perpetually insulted by barbarians, while the em- 
perors were solely occupied in abolishing or in re-establishing the 
veneration of holy images. In the West, Charlemagne survived, 
for the happiness of his people, four years longer ; — -honored and 
adored by his subjects, and revered by all the neighbouring 
powers. His son Lewis Debonnaire, or the good-natured, with 
some excellent dispositions joined also great defects. His own 
children rose up against him, and by the aid of intrigue and the 
violence of faction, procured repeatedly his deposition from the 
throne, to which he was as often with equal fickleness restored. 
His graceless sons divided the empire, and formed of it three 
independent monarchies ; — Italy, France and Germany. None 
of the great qualities of Charlemagne were discernible in themj 
or in any of their posterity — a race without genius, without ta- 
lents, and almost invariably — without virtue. The three king- 
doms were incessantly at variance with each other, and were 
torn in pieces with civil discord ; while all the neighbouring 
nations, — the Danes, the Normans, the Saracens, inundated 
on every side the provinces which had constituted the bulk of 
the western empire. The noble plan of government established 
by Charlemagne, disappeared ; the laws were without energy, and 
the people without principle or discernment. Only the popes and 
conscientious pastors asserted aloud the common rights of huma- 
nity in favor of the oppressed : they alone were qualified by their 
virtue and the salutary threats of the Divine vengeance — to oppose 
a strong barrier to lawless power : and notwithstanding the hor- 
rible licentiousness of the age, the dread of chastisement in the 
world to come terrified the most reprobate hearts, and forced 
them to have recourse to the pastors of the church and to reli- 
gion, in order to appease the awful bodings of a troubled con- 
science. In these moments of serious reflection, they often re- 
ferred their respective claims to the decision of the bishops, and 
joined with them in promoting the reform of abuses both in 
church and state. All the councils celebrated during the ninth 
century are full of exhortations, or of threats of the Divine 
judgments denounced against those sovereigns who disturbed the 
public peace, and abused their authority to the prejudice of the 
people, and the immunities of the church. They placed before 
the eyes of kings and potentates the awful moment of dissolu- 
tion j and their pious remonstrances frequently produced the 
most admirable effects. The clergy, therefore, and the prelates 
of the church, notwithstanding the irregularities of some of 
their body, were the sole protectors of the common cause of 



57 

Mimanlty; without their aid, and that of religion, every idea of 
justice and of moral virtue, must have been obliterated in the 
western empire. 

At the commencement of the ninth century, Egbert was sole 
monarch over all England ; whose successors down to Alfred the 
Great were princes, sometimes indeed pious and religious, but 
uniformly deficient in point of vigor and activity. Meanwhile 
the Danes made frequent descents upon the island ; penetrat- 
ed into the interior of the kingdom, and established settle- 
ments in the midst of it; while fresh disembarkations poured in 
in every direction, and made the coast a wilderness, and the 
whole nation desolate. Alfred the Great had these furious ene- 
mies to contend with during almost the whole period of his 
reign ; and it was not before the close of his administration, that 
he effected the complete deliverance of England, by establishing 
a navy to cruise along the coast, which totally annihilated the 
Danish fleets. 

The Saracen califs continued to patronise learning, and par- 
ticularly the science of astronomy. This produced a great num- 
ber of proficients in that noble and not less eminently useful 
branch of knowledge, some of whom have left behind them astro- 
nomical observations surprisingly exact. Many also applied 
themselves to the study of judicial astrology, while in other de- 
partments of literature they confined themselves more successful- 
ly to the traduction and explanation of ancient authors who 
heretofore had discussed them. On the contrary, in the Con- 
stantinopolitan empire the liberal arts were much neglected and . 
despised. Leo the Isaurian had destroyed all the establishments 
favorable to literature ; and the learned were consigned to obli- 
vion and contempt. It was owing to the efforts of the Saracen 
calif Amon to attract Leo the philosopher to his court, that the 
emperor Theophilus first discovered the treasure which he pos- 
sessed in this great man. He encouraged his talents, and ren- 
dered them important to the state, by entrusting him with the 
charge of public instruction. Bardas, who governed under the 
emperor Michael, undertook with the aid and advice of Photius, 
to revive learning in the eastern empire, by establishing profess- 
ors of all the sciences and polite arts, and attaching to their 
functions both honorary privileges and regular pecuniary appoint- 
ments. This was soon followed with the desired success ; al- 
though, by the monuments still extant — of the literary exertions 
of this period, it appears, that the men of letters studied only to 
imitate and expound the ancients. 

In the West, sacred and profane learning continued to be 
taught in the prodigious number of schools established and en- 
dowed by Charlemagne ; till the dreadful disorders of the suc- 
ceeding reigns once more ushered in an obscure night of igno- 
rance and barbarism, save only in the monasteries and cathe- 

H 



5$ 

drals. The incursions of the Danes, and the ravages of 
civil war, had almost utterly exterminated letters and the fine 
arts, and had destroyed nearly all the schools of education in 
England. More than half the century had thus elapsed, when 
Alfred began to communicate to his subjects his own mental 
acquirements, by the diffusion of learning throughout the pro- 
vinces of Great Britain. He was a prince of untarnished cha- 
racter, possessed of every quality calculated to make a sovereign 
the object of adoration to his people. He was, moreover, a 
good architect, geometrician, philosopher and historian. Piety 
had converted all his efforts and all the resources of his genius 
and learning — to promote the general good of his fellow- 
creatures. To him England is indebted for a great part of 
those wise laws, which form at present the happiness of our consti- 
tution. Every where he established schools of theology, of 
arithmetic, of music and astronomy ; and invited from foreign 
countries learned men of every description, and the most cele- 
brated artists of every kind. In a word, he spared neither cost 
nor pains to inspire the English nation with a love of literature, 
religion and the sciences. To him also, we owe the establish- 
ment of our marine, — with many valuable privileges appertain- 
ing to the birthright of an Englishman. Widely different was 
the conduct of those worthless sovereigns who reigned at Con- 
stantinople, during the ninth age. Leo the Isaurian, Michael 
the Big, and Thebphilus, all alike abused their authority — by 
persecuting the church of God, and prohibiting the relative 
veneration which it thought good to decree to holy images ; till 
the empress Theodora enforced by law the second council of 
Nice, and effectually suppressed the fanaticism of the Icono- 
clasts. This princess treated the Manichees with still greater 
rigor. Above one hundred thousand of these deluded people 
perished by various kinds of punishments. Such of them as had 
the good fortune to escape, joined the Saracens in their inroads 
into the territories of the empire ; fortified some places where 
their persecuted fellow sectaries might find a secure retreat; and 
with them soon formed an army — formidable both for its num- 
bers, and for that furious spirit of animosity with which it was 
inflamed — against the emperors, and against every individual 
professor of the catholic religion. They committed dreadful 
depredations in the provinces of the empire, and more than 
once annihilated its armies. At length, however, their fate was 
decided by a general battle, in which their leader fell ; and with 
him was dissipated in a moment that powerful combination 
which the excess of rigorism had formed, and which had shaken 
to its centre the Constantinopolitan empire. 

After Theodora had resigned the regency to her unnatural 
son Michael III. surnamed the Drunkard, his uncle Bardas be- 
came prime minister, and ruled with despotic authority in his 



59 

name. This man divorced his lawful wife, and contracted an 
incestuous marriage with his daughter-in-law, notwithstanding 
the zealous remonstrances and ecclesiastic censures of the patri- 
arch Ignatius. Him Bardas caused to be deposed, and in- 
truded Photius in his place. The intruded prelate was* ex « 
communicated by the pope ; and a schism ensued between the 
Greek and Latin churches, which was not terminated till the 
meeting of the eighth general council. 

In this age Godescalcus raised long and warm debates con- 
cerning predestination 5 and a monk of Corby, from some pas- 
sages in St Augustine, affected to infer, that all mankind collec- 
tively had but one individual soul. A priest of Mentz main- 
tained with much zeal, that Cicero and Virgil were saved ; and a 
visionary devotee pretended to' discover in the Revelations, like 
some of the canting prophets of the present day, that the disso- 
lution of the world would take place precisely in the year 848. 
Like them she thought she had received a commission from 
above to announce this grand discovery to mankind. She did 
so ; and found many fools prepared to give her full credit for her 
prediction ! 



Tenth century. 

The empire of the Mussulmans was now divided into a vast 
number of governments, over which the calif had no longer any 
absolute control. A croud of impostors had followed the ex- 
ample of Mahomet, and wished themselves to share with him a 
part of the national enthusiasm. The califs, who formerly w r ent 
clad in the skins of beasts, and used the most simple diet, were 
grown luxurious and effeminate, and had a train of not less than 
forty thousand domestics. In the midst of this grand equipage, 
they oftentimes fell victims to the caprice of the soldiery, the 
treachery of favorites, or the ambition of competitors. Their 
prime ministers exercised all the functions of sovereignty, while 
the califs themselves were content with a sort of religious pre-emi- 
nence, and had no share in the government of the state. 

Leo the philosopher reigned at Constantinople in the begin- 
ning of the tenth age. He was succeeded by his son Alexander, 
whose excesses quickly rid the empire of a most vicious prince. 
His nephew Constantine, Romanus compelled to take him for his 
colleague ; and the son of Romanus dethroned his own father, 
and in his turn was himself dethroned, and forced to embrace an 
ecclesiastical state. Constantine recovered his authority, but 
was taken off by a most nefarious conspiracy of his own unna- 
tural son Romanus, who at the suggestion of his not less wicked 
wife, administered a dose of poison to his royal father. This 
parricide did not long enjoy the fruits of his impiety. The army 

H 2 



60 

proclaimed their general Nicephorus emperor ; and he, too, was 
constrained to give place to Zimisces. The tranquillity of this 
prince's reign was disturbed by frequent conspiracies, and the re- 
bellion of many provinces which the rapacious conduct of the 
eunuch Basil, chief minister of state, had driven into insurrec- 
tion. Basil, dreading the justice of Zimisces, contrived his death 
by poison, and governed with despotic authority under the sons 
of Romanus, Constantine and Basil whom Zimisces had ap- 
pointed to succeed him in the empire. Their reign, like the for- 
mer, was troubled with revolt and civil war. 

Italy, France and Germany were constantly engaged in fo- 
reign or domestic wars. In Italy, the different factions invited 
to their aid the neighbouring princes, and not unfrequently, — 
barbarians ; and, as their new guests oftentimes became trouble- 
some, others were called in to expel them, and became in their 
turn also, equally untractable. In this turbulent state of things, 
John XII. invited Otho into Italy, who extinguished the flames 
of discord among the natives, — wrested from the Greeks Apulia 
and Calabria, and reunited Italy to the Germanic empire. 
France was exposed to the incursions of the Normans, in whose 
favor Charles the Simple ceded a part of Neustria, which from 
them is still called Normandy. Ihe disaffected nobles abandon- 
ed Charles, and placed Robert, son of Eudes, upon the throne : 
the two rivals formed confederacies with their neighbours. But, 
after the death of Robert, the states elected Raoul for their king ; 
and Charles, now forsaken by all his adherents, died in duress at 
Peronne. After Raoul's demise, Hugues, Count of Paris and 
of Orleans, recalled Lewis son to Charles the Simple, who upon 
his father's disgrace had taken refuge in Great Britain. Lewis 
wished to check the overgrown influence of the barons, and with 
this view entered into league with the neighbouring powers. 
The nobles invited to their assistance the Bulgarians and the Nor- 
mans ; and France was left a prey to the fury of civil contention, 
when Lotharius succeeded to the crown. He was an enterpris- 
ing and successful prince, but treacherous and faithless. He fell 
by poison in the midst of the tumults and disorders of the state. 
His son Lewis reigned nineteen years, and was succeeded by 
Hugues Capet the head of the Bourbon family. During the 
preceding reigns the vassals of the crown were become so power- 
ful, that each noble had his fortresses and his castles, situated for 
the most part upon eminences, and overawing the surrounding 
plains, They even laid all travellers and merchants under con- 
tribution, and imposed upon them at pleasure arbitrary tolls by 
way of tribute, before they were permitted to cross any river ; 
the fords of which they caused to be diligently guarded. 
Against these petty tyrants Hugues Capet waged a successful 
war. 

In Germany the order of things was much the same. The 



61 

it were always in arms one against the other, or else at war 
b their sovereigns. These latter, too, when unembarrassed 
at home with civil broils, became parties in the quarrels of their 
neighbours ; so that Germany scarce enjoyed any intervals of 
peace. Nor was England more privileged than the nations of 
the continent ; it was generally harassed by the inroads of the* 
Danes, or implicated in domestic feuds. 

Learning was still patronised in the East by the Saracen 
califs, and by the sultans who had usurped the greatest part of 
their authority. A considerable proportion of their learned 
men were employed in translating into the Arabic tongue the 
writings of the ancient philosophers $ while others applied them- 
selves with much diligence to the study of the translations al- 
ready set forth in the preceding age. Some, again, gave com- 
ments on the works of Aristotle and other celebrated authors 
of antiquity, or presented the public with a choice collection of 
their most admired axioms. Among the Mussulman theologians 
was formed — a society of literati who maintained, that in order 
to attain perfection, it was absolutely necessary to join philoso- 
phy with the study of the alcoran. This new system of philoso- 
phico-theologism was an innovation in the doctrine of Maho- 
metism ; and, in fact, the Mussulmans had now their Predes- 
tinarians, their Pelagians, their Optimists, their Origenists ; 
besides a vast variety of theologists who controverted the general 
and received laws of morality, and those of natural philosophy: 
some likewise pretended, that every Mussulman would infallibly 
be saved. Others held, that the Divinity resided in all men ; 
and in Ali, in a very special manner ; in a word, they believed 
him to be God incarnate. 

In the Constantinopolitan empire, Bardas, encouraged by 
the example of the Arabians, and by the exhortations of Pho- 
tius, had begun to revive the study of literature and the sciences, 
towards the close of the last century : his views were seconded 
by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who invited from all quarters 
— philosophers, geometricians and astronomers, to come and 
teach at Constantinople. But from the depth of ignorance to 
the perfection of science, the progression is but gradual ; and 
we do not find that the Greek empire produced any celebrated 
writers during the tenth century. An undiscerning relish for 
the marvellous was the order of the day ; and this, perhaps, it 
was, that determined Metaphrastes to compile his Legends of 
the Saints ; — a publication replete with the most extraordinary 
prodigies, ill authenticated at the best, and often suppositi- 
tious. 

Europe, as already observed, was agitated with perpetual 
wars. The fury of arms had produced a general licentiousness ; 
inflamed the passions ; extinguished in many almost the light 
of reason itself. Still, however, there were manv that retained 



62 

impressions of religion even in their greatest excesses. Virtuous 
persons availed themselves of these precious remnants of faith — 
to represent to them in lively colours the dreadful chastisements 
reserved for wicked actors, in a future state. Often the agonies 
of remorse compelled these latter to adopt the severest methods 
*of expiating their crimes, and frequently too, their consum- 
mate impiety hurried them into the superstitious practices — of 
augury and every species of divination, and other vain ob- 
servances which had been in use with idolaters in preceding 
ages. Some ignorant and simple people had strange ideas with 
reference to the other world, and imagined, for instance, that 
it was a part of St Michael's office to sing high mass in heaven 
every Monday. The tenth age, notwithstanding, so fruitful in 
other evils of every description, gave not birth to any new 
heresy. 

Eleventh century of the christian era. 

The Mahometan empire was still under the nominal govern- 
ment of the califs, who in fact were but the phantoms of impe- 
rial authority, while their sultans ruled with arbitrary sway. 
Mahinoud, sultan of Bagdad, subjugated India, — established 
in those vast regions the religion of Mahomet, and caused above 
fifty thousand poor idolaters to be massacred in cold blood. 
While this sultan was thus busied in extending the boundaries 
of the Mussulman empire and superstition, the Seleucidae, a 
warlike nation of the Turks, made themselves masters of several 
provinces hitherto subject to the jurisdiction of the sultans. The 
calif had invited them to rid him of the tyranny of Mahmoud, 
and declared their chief imperial viceroy over all the nations 
which God had entrusted to his charge; — king of the East and 
of the West. His successors added new acquisitions to his 
immense domains, waged a long and cruel war against the Con- 
stantinopolitan empire, and subdued Georgia ; extending their 
dominion from Syria to the Bosphorus. The emperor Basil, 
who had prosecuted with vigor the re-establishment of the 
Eastern empire, was succeeded by his son Constantine. This 
prince, the more freely to indulge a voluptuous disposition, re- 
signed the government of the state wholly to his ministers. By 
these — all former merit was rewarded with loss of office, or with 
death. During the entire lapse of the eleventh age — treachery, 
poison, and parricide, were the means ordinarily employed in 
the advancement or the deposition of an emperor. Hence we 
may easily form an idea of the disorders of the government, and 
of the deplorable condition of the people ; who were, moreover, 
daily exposed to the incursions of the Bulgarians, Saracens and 
Turks. These barbarians must inevitably have even now re- 



63 

duced the Constantinopolitan empire, had they not been fre- 
quently at variance among themselves. Nor was the Western 
atmosphere less turbid and tempestuous. From time to time 
indeed, it was partially illumined with the virtues and elevated 
genius of enlightened sovereigns ; but these were not able, with 
their utmost efforts, to re-establish order ; nor could they im- 
part their virtues and their talents to those who were to wear 
the diadem when they should be no more. Gregory VII. was 
aware of this, and observed with sorrow the mischievous effects 
of power abused. He formed the project — novel, it must be 
owned, and equally unwarranted in the means to be employed — 
of subjecting this power to the laws of Christianity. This, he 
conceived, could not be otherwise effected but by the spiritual 
arms of the visible Head of the church, and the terrors of ex- 
communication, attended with whatever might render them 
more imposing to the objects of ecclesiastical censure. His own 
virtue, and his ardent zeal did not permit him to foresee, that 
the Heads of the church themselves, who hitherto, in general, 
had deserved so well of Christianity, might one day unworthily 
abuse that immense power thus to be transferred to the Roman 
pontiffs. He contemplated no other result from this mighty 
influence, than a certain antidote to the evils which desolated 
Europe. His motive was good, his warmest adversaries will 
readily allow ; but his reasoning was inconclusive and fallacious, 
and his deductions wrong. However, to him they appeared 
accurate ; and the ignorance of the times was not competent 
distinctly to ascertain the exact boundaries of ecclesiastical au- 
thority. Hence a prince excommunicated by the pope, was in 
consequence reputed no better than a tyrant ; — a declared ene- 
my of the church, — a reprobate wholly possessed by Satan. 
Thus, the sentence of the pontiff-deposing kings, and the ex- 
communication which deprived them of the common rites of 
Christianity, were by the ignorant received as oracles ; and to 
sovereigns they were dreadful as the thunderbolt. 

In this age, pilgrimages to the Holy Land were frequent ; 
and the pilgrims were exposed to the attacks and insults of the 
Turks, who had possessed themselves of Palestine. On their 
return they delineated in the most lively colours the hardships 
which they had undergone, and the deplorable state of chris- 
tians in that devoted country. The sovereign pontiff, moved to 
tears at the affecting recital, exhorted Christendom to unite in 
wresting the Holy Land from the tyranny of infidels. On this 
interesting occasion, the bishops, the nobles, and the people, 
are alike transported with a praise-worthy zeal : more than six 
hundred thousand combatants successively volunteer their ser- 
vices upon this sacred expedition ; eventually effect the conquest 
of all Palestine, and establish a new empire in the East. The 
enterprise in itself was laudable ; and the re-union of entire 



64 

Christendom for the attainment of a religious object and one 
common cause, seemed calculated to contribute much towards a 
cessation of mutual jealousy, — of feuds and jarring interests 
which armed the whole body of christians in Europe one against 
the other. 

Literature continued to be patronised in the East. The 
Turks who subjugated Persia, Syria and Palestine, protected 
the learned, and, with their concurrence, founded some acade- 
mies. Their conquests in the Indies introduced the sciences, 
and the philosophy of the Arabs ; and familiarised the Arabian 
and Greek philosophers with the philosophy of the Indies. The 
oriental philosophers were now no longer mere translators of 
the ancients ; they commented and criticised their works ; dis- 
cussed their doctrine and their principles; arranged them in 
proper order and connection ; and, from the total result of their 
combination, were qualified to elicit systems of their own. 

At Constantinople, hunting, dancing and voluptuousness, 
seemed wholly to engross the public attention : the arts and 
sciences were utterly despised. In the reign, however, of Con- 
stantine Monomachus — the study of letters began once more to 
revive: grammar and philosophy were cultivated with much 
care ; although this philosophy consisted merely in the art of 
forming syllogisms and of deducing sophistical conclusions. 
This was an exercise of the mental faculties caculated rather to 
narrow than improve them. 

In the West — the anathemata of the church ; the dread of 
eternal torments ; the virtues of several among the popes, bishops 
and other ecclesiastical superiors pat a restraint upon the pas- 
sions of the laity. Fewer acts of extortion, of rapine, and of 
plunder now took place than formerly : the churches and monas- 
teries were more respected, discipline and order better observed : 
the sciences were cultivated in peace ; public academies were 
open to all that wished to improve their understanding : the ge- 
nerous piety of monasteries and cathedrals supplied what was 
wanting to talents without fortune ; and the schools were quick- 
ly crowded with an infinite number of students full of emulation 
and a noble ardor, which they diffused among all ranks and con- 
ditions of life. Kings, princes and noblemen ; — princesses and 
ladies of the first quality and respectability, deemed it no disgrace 
to study diligently the elements of literature : learning, hither- 
to confined exclusively within the cloister, now burst forth with 
a kind of explosion which enlightened all Europe, and produced 
a sudden revolution in the ideas and the morals of mankind. It 
took off that savage predilection for arms and military ferocity, — 
ever the result of ignorance and barbarism ; and substituted in 
lieu of duelling and acts of violence, exercises more congenial 
with humanity, and a courage inspired by the principles of right 
reason and religion. 



65 

During the eleventh age the method of Alcuin was adopted in 
the schools, under the denomination of Trivium and Qiiadrivium. 
The Trivium included grammar, logic and dialectics : arithmetic, 
geometry, astronomy and music, -constituted what was termed 
Qiiadrivium. As at first the sciences were taught in the cathe- 
dral churches, and in the monasteries, — they were all made sub- 
servient to morality and religion. But when the number of 
schools was multiplied, and emulation spread more univer- 
sally, philosophy became the chief object of the bulk of students, 
especially towards the middle of the eleventh age, when the works 
of Aristotle, of Avicennes and Averroes, — the introduction of Por- 
phyrius and the categories attributed to St Augustin, were very 
generally studied in the West. 

It is not necessary here to notice the tedious disputes of John 
the sophist, who maintained that logic as then taught treated on- 
ly of abstract ideas, or rather of words expressing those ideas, — 
with his opponents who would have it, that the objects of 
general and abstract ideas had a real existence in nature. Suf- 
fice it to remark, that these very important wrangles between the 
nominalists and realists, absorbed the greater part of the attention 
of schoolmen for several succeeding centuries ; till Bacon caught 
the hint and decided the hard fought contest in favour of John 
the sophist. 

Physics were absolutely unknown to the students of the eleventh 
age, if we except a part of natural history ; that, for instance, 
which treats of animals and of precious stones, concerning which 
Hildebert, bishop of Mons, and Marbonius, of Rennes, put 
forth publications. The mechanism of nature was not studied ; 
and extraordinary phenomena were deemed to prognosticate ex- 
traordinary events, or thought to be the work of a special super- 
intending Providence. Nor was the eleventh age better versed 
in the art of criticism, than it was in natural philosophy ; and of 
course, every uncommon incident had in it something of the mi- 
raculous. 

At Constantinople, while the minds of private individuals seem- 
ed wholly immersed in pleasure, the ambitious patriarch Ceru- 
larius formed the project of vindicating to himself the title of 
Ecumenical or Universal ,• but he foresaw that the church of 
Rome would oppose an invincible obstacle to his wild preten- 
sions. Therefore he renewed the groundless charges of Photius, 
and accused the western church of holding pernicious doctrines. 
He was excommunicated by the pope, and, to repay the compli- 
ment, he excommunicated the pontiff in his turn ; found means 
to gain the confidence of the people ; acquired much influence at 
the court ; raised or tranquillized the populace at will, and caused 
the emperor himself to tremble upon his throne. After his death, 
the empire continued to be disturbed with that spirit of fanati- 
cism which he had put in motion, and which all the efforts of the 

i 



66 

imperial authority were not equal to control. With him com* 
menced what is usually termed the Greek schism ; which to this 
day separates the Russian christians from the communion of the 
Latin church. 

In the West, the candidates for the ecclesiastic state pursued 
the course of studies adopted in the schools, and, agreeably to 
that method, applied themselves particularly to the dialectic. 
This was thought to qualify a person to reason upon any subject 
of which he understood the terms ; and thus, the knowledge ©f 
the fathers and ecclesiastical authors was no longer deemed es- 
sential in theology. The syllogistic art was substituted in its 
place; and, with the aid of this art, persons undertook to treat 
of the dogmata, and explain the mysteries of faith. This falla- 
cious method taught Berengarius the novel doctrine of Impana- 
tion in the eucharist, and Roscelin Tritheism in the blessed Tri- 
nity ; each pretending to elucidate more satisfactorily, according 
to their new rule, these most sacred and ineffable mysteries of our 
religion. 

After the total overthrow of the Manichees, the remnants of 
that sect had fled into Italy, and settled among the Lombards. 
From Lombardy they had occasionally dispersed themselves 
over the several states of Europe. In their doctrinal system 
they had introduced some changes ; and they now professed a 
high esteem for poverty, and affected an extraordinary love of 
virtue. These very specious appearances seduced some undis- 
cerning, though apparently exemplary christians, who were in 
consequence arrested, — and remaining obstinately attached to 
their new belief, were sentenced by the magistrates to the stake. 
Their execution did not annihilate the sect ; and its principles, 
disseminated with caution through the various provinces of the 
West, gradually fermented, and produced the most fatal effects 
in the succeeding centuries. 



Twelfth century of the christian era. 

In the East, all was anarchy and confusion. The new state 
which the christians had there established, was the subject of 
continual wars. The sultans were constantly in the field to 
arrest the efforts of the erusards, who poured on all sides into 
Syria, Palestine and Africa; and, to complete the desolation 
of Asia, the celebrated Prester John, with a mighty army of 
Tartars from the remote regions of Thibet, extended his vast 
empire to the borders of the Tigris. The emperor of Constan- 
tinople, unable to repel the inroads of the Saracens, and jealous 
alike of the successes of the erusards, tampered first with one 
and then the other, without being able to take advantage either 
of their victories, or their defeats. He was equally at variance 



67 

with Turks and Saracens ; — with the Normans established in 
Italy, and the christians engaged in their expedition to the 
Holy Land. At home, the state had to struggle with the spirit 
of faction, and schismatical cabal. The people were over- 
burdened with taxes by their voluptuous emperors, who for the 
most part indulged their extravagant humours and their luxuri- 
ous propensities in the midst of the most dreadful national 
calamities: they were, accordingly, oftentimes deposed, and 
frequently murdered by their subjects. 

The West, as in the preceding century, was divided into an 
infinite number of provinces, petty' sovereignties and states. 
Their respective chiefs made war upon each other ; and the 
nobles and great lords seemed unable to support the tediousness 
of existence out of warfare. These disorders the Roman pon- 
tiffs endeavoured to correct, or at least to turn this general 
passion for arms — against usurpers and unjust oppressors; as 
also, against the common enemies of the christian name. Con- 
sequently, it is not reasonable to attribute to ambition, or an 
undue system of self-aggrandisement, the efforts which they 
made to extend their own influence, and to contract the power 
of temporal princes. The celebrated Mr Leibnitz, who studied 
history as a philosopher and as a politician, and who, perhaps, 
was better acquainted than any other individual with the state 
of the West during these epochs of disorder, vouches, — that 
this overwhelming power of the popes often prevented the most 
serious disasters. To procure more infallibly the public good 
and the blessing of peace, they wished to transfer as great a 
share as possible, of that power and of those prerogatives enjoy- 
ed by temporal princes, and almost always by them abused — 
to the see of Rome. The right of investiture was a temptation 
to sovereigns to make a traffic of ecclesiastical benefices, 
bishoprics and abbeys. Gregory VII. contested this right, and 
would not allow it to Henry IV. Henry V. attempted to re- 
assume it, was excommunicated, and subsequently forsaken by 
the greater part of his feudatory vassals. After a furious strug- 
gle of twenty years, he was compelled to accede to the demand 
of canonical elections throughout all the churches of the empire; 
— to renounce the claim of investiture by the ring and the 
crosier ; and was to assist at the elections, merely for the main- 
tenance of order, by the speeial permission of the pope. Eng- 
land was involved in the same unhappy contest. 

The papal power — certainly on weak and fallacious grounds — 
thus elevated to its zenith, became the object of ambition and 
cabal ; its influence in the civil and political affairs of Europe 
made the election of a pope a concern of mighty importance to 
every crowned head : this laical interference in their election, 
made way for the introduction of antipopes ; who caused per~ 
nicious schisms in the church, and excommunicated their com- 

i 2 



68 

petitors, together with the sovereigns' that patronised their 
cause. Thus religious power began to predominate in every 
political occurrence in the West ; and from this moment it must 
produce, or contribute largely to produce, all important revo- 
lutions ; — must, of course, be attacked or defended by temporal 
princes, as their respective interests should direct ; gradually 
die away in proportion as its credit should be abused, or be en- 
trusted in the hands of the ambitioug and ill-principled, or even 
virtuous persons devoid of judgment and discretion ; and lose 
entirely, for want of moderation and prudence, even what in 
justice was its due, and what it were to be wished for the good 
of Christianity, it had still retained; according to the wise remark 
of Mr Leibnitz. (Cod. Jur. Gent, diplom.) 

The state of literature, notwithstanding the unfavourable 
aspect of things, was gradually improving. In the midst of the 
horrors of war, the califs, sultans and governors in the East, 
were for the most part themselves men of learning ; and the schools 
or academies established throughout the Mussulman empire 
were respected. Some Arabian theologists controverted alike 
every system of religion and philosophy ; while others pretended 
to justify Mahometism by philosophic principles. Averroes, 
the most famous of their philosophers, regarded Aristotle as 
a being who of all others approached the nighest to the di- 
vinity, and as one who had possessed a perfect knowledge 
of all truths. 

The Constantinopolitan empire likewise had somewhat im- 
proved, from its frequent intercourse with the Saracens, and from 
its theological disputes with the Western church in order to 
justify its separation. During the course of the twelfth age it 
produced some philosophers, some theologians, and some few 
writers on jurisprudence. 

The emulation which had been excited in the West during 
the preceding century, the patronage of princes, and the pro- 
motion, exclusively, of persons of distinguished merit to the 
higher dignities of the church, — combined with the introduction 
and astonishing propagation of the orders of Citeaux, Cluni, 
the Carthusians and regular canons, multiplied prodigiously 
academies and schools: which in every abbey, and almost in 
every monastery in the West, were opened for the purpose of 
diffusing literary, as well as religious improvement. The art of 
writing was cultivated with greater application and success in 
this, than in the foregoing age ; nor had the eleventh century 
any authors comparable to St Bernard, or Peter Abelard. 

The contests in which the popes were engaged with sovereigns, 
and sovereigns respectively with each other ; also those of differ- 
ent religious orders with their impugners, induced many to ap- 
ply themselves to the study of the canonical and civil law, as 
well as of profane and ecclesiastical history. Sacred biography, 



69 

and even in some instances, universal history was handled by the 
writers of the twelfth age- In the philosophic academies the 
works of Aristotle and those of the Arabs who had commented 
them, particularly Averroes, — were translated into the Latin 
tongue ; and the Aristotelian principles became so fashionable, 
that it was not unusual with philosophers, to refer all disputes 
— those of religion not excepted — to this grand criterion. In their 
defence of religion they affected to explain what was mysterious, 
by the light of reason ; and to combat by philosophic arguments 
and the authority of the ancient sages, the novel objections of 
modern dialecticians. In the other sciences improvement was 
imperceptible. From what we have said it will be inferred, — 

1. That those who wished to reconcile the dogmata of religion 
with the principles of philosophy, and the opinions of the an- 
cients, moved upon the brink of precipices into which the listless- 
ness of curiosity might easily betray them. — 

2. It was natural that the new pretensions of the popes, and 
of the clerical orders, should give birth to numberless complaints 
and accusations against the sovereign pontiffs, the bishops and 
the clergy indiscriminately, and subject their respective rights 
and privileges to obloquy ; and that written declamations upon 
the subject should be read and understood — by an infinite num- 
ber of persons educated in the public schools — 

3. We must premise, that all the efforts of the twelfth cen- 
tury were not adequate to dispel ignorance, and re-establish or- 
der : on the contrary, one part of the clergy still remained ex- 
tremely ignorant and immoral. — 

4. Translations of Holy Scripture into the vulgar languages 
had been put forth, and thus the -unexperienced and undiscern- 
ing multitude were qualified to misinterpret and abuse it. — 

5. With regard to the Manichees, that excessive rigor with 
which they were treated in the West, had made them more cau- 
tious ; but had increased their animosity, and created in the 
breasts of these fanatics the most infuriate desire of revenge. 

Thus we may recognise in the twelfth age — many principles 
of error and division relative to the doctrines of religion, the ju- 
risdiction of the church, and the reformation of manners. They 
produced in Abelard and in Gilbert of Porree, dogmatical errors 
concerning the holy mysteries of our faith ; in Arnold of Bres- 
cia, the wild and frantic project of despoiling the pope and 
clergy of their property, and that of re-establishing at Rome the 
ancient republican form of government ; in Waldo, — dreams of 
evangelical perfection, obliging christians to renounce their 
estates and all pretensions to any private property whatever ; in 
Eon, — the blasphemous conceit, that he himself was Jesus 
Christ ; in Peter of Bruys, Tankelin and the apostolics, — a va- 
riety of erroneous notions and strangely ridiculous practices, of- 
ten absolutely inconsistent with each other, relating to the sa- 



craments, and whatever they deemed calculated to procure 
esteem and veneration to the bishops and the clergy : in a word, 
they eventually produced the reunion of all these fanatics — in 
the Albigenses;— and the crusades, undertaken in order to sup- 
press this impious and immoral sect. 



Thirteenth century of the christian era. 

The East was occupied by the Moguls, the Saracens and 
Turks, and by the multitude of adventurers from the different 
nations of the West, who in the first crusade had formed a new 
state in Palestine and Syria. All these were incessantly at war. 
Gengiskan and his successors reduced by force of arms a consi- 
derable portion of the Saracen and Turkish empires; while the 
princes of the West took Constantinople by storm, and esta- 
blished there a Latin emperor, whose successors swayed the 
Greek sceptre till the middle of the thirteenth century. The 
Greek emperors, after their restoration, were always at va- 
riance with the Turks, who finally reduced a considerable part 
of the Constantinopolitan territories. 

In the West, Germany was convulsed by the factions of 
different pretenders to the empire. Otho was at length acknow- 
ledged and crowned by Innocent III. after promising by oath 
to protect the patrimony of St Peter. The emperor, notwith- 
standing, quarrelled with the Romans, and proceeded to ravage 
the territories of the church. Thereupon he was deposed in a 
council assembled by the pope. Part of the German princes 
elected Frederic II. in his place ; others espoused the cause of 
Otho, who was defeated in battle, and by his death left Fre- 
deric in quiet possession of the empire. Frederic engaged him- 
self by vow to undertake an expedition to the Holy Land, and 
added to the patrimony of the Roman church ; but afterwards 
falling out with his holiness, he resolved to expel the bishops 
nominated by him in various cities of Italy, and, like his pre- 
decessor, incurred the sentence of excommunication and depo- 
sition ! Nor did the troubles and subsequent commotions in 
the empire cease, till the accession of Rodolph I. to the imperial 
throne, including a period of nearly half a century. 

France and England were involved in the like disedifying 
contests. One part of the provinces of France was desolated by 
the religious wars against the Albigenses. Consequently the 
West was still the theatre of discord, and its attendant evils : 
the violence of men's passions still armed one moiety of the hu- 
man race against the other. But, deplorable as were the cala- 
mities still resulting from this continual state of warfare, they 
are not to be compared with the horrible excesses and cruelties 
committed in ages anterior to the reign of Constantine, and 



n 

during the inroads of barbarians into the West, before they 
had embraced the doctrines of Christianity; nor with those 
scenes of desolation exhibited in the Eastern world during this 
very age — by the Moguls, the Huns and Tartars, and by all 
those savage tribes whose passions still remained untutored by 
the gospel. 

Science, as in the foregoing century, was protected by the 
Moguls in the beginning of the thirteenth ; and learning greatly 
flourished in their empire : while, on the other hand, the con- 
quests of the Turks insensibly annihilated it throughout the 
boundaries of their unhappy jurisdiction. Some few men of 
learning flourished among the Greeks. But almost all their 
efforts were employed in vain attempts to justify their schism, 
and to refute the writings of the Latin theologians. The cru- 
sades had rendered the Greek language more familiar in the 
West ; and the works of Aristotle, of Plato, and other cele- 
brated philosophers of antiquity, were now translated into Latin, 
and read with great avidity. The emperor Frederic II. trans- 
lated a part of them himself, and caused others to be translated 
by various hands; while he very laudably established some 
schools both in Italy and Germany. 

In France there reigned a sort of enthusiastic predilection for 
the works of the ancient sages, and particularly those of Aris- 
totle. It was now the fashion to adopt, indiscriminately, his 
opinions ; and such was the complaisance of certain theologists 
and sophists of this age for whatever originated with their ad- 
mired author, that they taught, like him, the eternity of matter, 
and absolute fatalism. Others, not so impious, endeavoured to 
reconcile the opinions of this philosopher with religion ; or rather, 
without being aw r are of it, they sought to reconcile religion with 
those fallacious principles, which they found laid down by Aristotle. 
Thus were many betrayed into superfluous and dangerous dis- 
quisitions, and even into a variety of errors relative to faith, — 
all canonically condemned and proscribed by the definitive judg- 
ment of the church. The reading of Aristotle's Physics and 
Metaphysics was now prohibited as a measure of precaution 
against error. But the prohibition itself proved rather a stimu- 
lant to curiosity ; and Aristotle still had many votaries. Even 
some of the most celebrated divines scrupled not in their con- 
troversial writings and disputes — to avail themselves of the au- 
thority and opinions of this famous heathen author. Among 
these stand foremost — Albert the Great, and St Thomas of 
Aquino. The study of the canon law and that of theology were 
likewise much cultivated this century in consequence of the 
rising heresies of the age, and of the frequent contests which 
took place between the popes and crowned heads, concerning 
the disputed right of investiture, &c. 

The southern provinces of France wereTull of the Manichean 



72 

sectaries called Albigenses. Against this infamous and infernal 
heresy a crusade was proclaimed ; and thus the South of France 
became the theatre of a cruel war. Some cities of considerable 
note were reduced to ashes, and their inhabitants very inhu- 
manly put to the sword in the course of this crusade, at the head 
of which was the famous Simon, count of Montfort ; and a court 
of inquisition was established with a view to exterminate the 
remnants of this devoted and execrable sect. Indefatigable was 
the zeal of the inquisitors ; and their rigor was extreme. This 
exposed them to the dagger of assassins $ and the exercise of the 
inquisitorial office was for a while suspended. It was afterwards 
established under different regulations — in some parts of Italy ; — 
in Spain, Portugal, and Malta : while other catholic countries 
very properly viewed this institution with an eye of jealousy, as 
productive of much evil and unchristian intolerance. 

In this age were instituted the four mendicant orders of reli- 
gious men, together with that of the redemption of captives, &c. 
The zeal of pious individuals would have founded many others, 
had not pope Gregory X. for prudential motives, prohibited in 
the council of Lateran the multiplication of religious orders. 
Those already instituted, particularly the mendicant, increased 
very rapidly, and peopled Christendom with saints. These re- 
ligious families — so respectable for their piety and learning, and 
so useful to the community at large, especially at the commence- 
ment of their establishment, — did not live retired in deserts and 
in forests : they fixed their abode in the midst of cities, and 
there subsisted on the voluntary contributions of the pious. 
Here they labored for the salvation of their benefactors. Their 
active zeal put them upon promoting practices of devotion the 
best calculated to revive among the people the true spirit of re- 
ligion ; and they preached the doctrines of eternal life with the 
most astonishing success. The zeal however, of some of these 
religious men, appeared in certain instances, to encroach upon 
the rights of the clergy. The latter, complained aloud against 
this innovation, as a violation of order, and a breach of disci- 
pline: the former alleged certain indults and exemptions grant- 
ed in their favor by the apostolic see ; and the popes patronised 
their claims, and silenced their opponents. 

The rigors of the inquisition, and the efforts of the crusards 
had not extinguished the Manichean sect. Its surviving votaries - 
had dispersed themselves in Germany, and there continued to 
disseminate in silence their pernicious errors — against the church, 
its form of worship, and its sacraments ; while other sectaries 
declaimed immoderately against the pope and bishops, and 
would needs maintain that they were heretics, and that the privi- 
lege of granting indulgences, forsooth, was now transferred to their 
party. ^ 

During this age a few distinguished geniuses had marked out 



73 

for themselves a new course in the regions of science. St Bona- 
venture, for instance, and St Thomas, — in regard of one depart- 
ment of philosophy and theology ; and the famous Roger Bacon, 
our countryman, in physics. This extraordinary character was 
reputed by his ignorant contemporaries — a magician, and treated 
as such by his religious brethren of the Franciscan order in our 
island ! 



Fourteenth century of the christian era, 

From the reign of Andronicus Paleologus, the empire of 
Constantinople was one vast theatre of disorder. Nothing so 
common as to see princes promoting mutiny and rebellion, and 
forming unnatural conspiracies against their own parents ; while 
the people, stupidly indifferent with regard to the evils and cala- 
mities of the state, interested themselves solely in perpetuating 
their pernicious schism, and sacrificed the very existence of the 
empire to their inveterate antipathy against the Latin church. 
The Turks failed not to improve these untoward circumstances to 
their own advantage. They established themselves in Europe ; 
and the princes of the West were no longer able to contend with 
them in Palestine. Italy, France, Germany and England, were 
perpetually in arms. The sovereign pontiffs in many instancss 
abused their authority, excommunicating and deposing -kings $ 
and kings in their turn, set up and abetted antipopes. 

Some of the Turkish princes had patronized the sciences ; 
but the bulk of their subjects were uncivilized barbarians, and 
held all literary improvement in the highest contempt. Learn- 
ing, of course, quickly abandoned their inhospitable empire. 
The Greek emperors, observing with regret the encroachments 
of these savage people, who had crossed the Hellespont, — taken 
Adrianople, and made it the seat of their empire, began then 
sensibly to feel a want of the support of the Western princes, 
and with their utmost efforts sought to procure the reunion of the 
Greek and Latin churches. But the obstinacy of their bigoted 
subjects opposed to all their endeavours an insurmountable bar- 
rier ; and caused them to apply their whole attention — to justi- 
fy, if possible, their groundless and unwarrantable schism. Their 
cause was desperate ; although, it must be owned, they made 
the most of it ; and their writings were not altogether void of 
classical merit : the schools of grammar and rhetoric still sub- 
sisted at Constantinople. 

Among the religious orders established in the West, some 
were destitute of that spirit of humility, which alone can render 
the most austere practices of self-renunciation either merito- 
rious in the sight of God, or even harmless to the individuals 
who adopt them. In one of those orders it was warmly contest- 

K 



74 

ed, whether the religious habit should be coarse and short, or 
somewhat longer and of materials not quite so rough. Some 
religious men as well as laics, made holiness to consist in the 
practice of the strictest poverty, and would not work for fear 
they should acquire a right to call any thing their own ; others 
deemed it a point of conscience not to labour for perishable food. 
Some again, pretending to resemble Jesus Christ more perfectly 
even than St Francis, caused themselves to be wrapped in swad- 
dling cloths, and put into a cradle. One maintained himself to 
be St Michael ; and after his death was metamorphosed into the 
Holy Ghost. Another asserted, that an angel had brought a 
letter from above, in which Jesus Christ had declared it neces- 
sary for all that desired the forgiveness of their sins — to forsake 
their country, and to flog themselves severely during thirty-four 
days, in remembrance of the time that he had sojourned upon 
earth. 

All these strangely stupid and ridiculous conceits had each 
their frantic abettors, who propagated their various sects over 
all the provinces of Europe. In pursuit of imaginary perfection 
they formed themselves into societies, the members of which 
were to bear towards each other a more particular affection. 
But soon perceiving that their fanciful perfection had not rid 
them of the tyranny of their passions, they were willing to com- 
promise, and to obey them as the order of nature, while they 
pretended to retrench whatever went beyond this : hence, they 
esteemed fornication, for instance, a laudable, or at least, an 
innocent act in the time of temptation ; whereas, these hypo- 
crites affected to condemn all kisses, however innocent their mo- 
tive, as enormous crimes. Of these multifarious societies of 
men and women — were composed the abominable sects of the Be- 
gardae, the Fratricelli or Frerots, the Spiritual Brethren, the 
Apostolics, the Dulcenists, the Flagellants, the Turlupins, 
&c. &c. 

John XXII. excommunicated the Frerots and their up- 
holders. But these sectaries arraigned the authority by which 
they were proscribed, and in order to secure the patronage of 
princes, they coupled their errors with propositions inimical to 
the pretensions of the court of Rome. Much rigour was em- 
ployed against them ; but they survived the storm, and united 
with the expatriated Albigenses. This was the case among 
other sectarians— of the Lollards. Wickliff, an Oxford divine, 
made common cause with these fanatics, and in his sermons and 
his writings inveighed outrageously — against the pope, the cler- 
gy and the church itself, — its ceremonies, and its sacraments. 

In the schools, Aristotle and his Arabian commentators were 
still passionately admired : many adopted their principles in ju- 
dicial astrology ; attributed every event to the influence of the 
stars, and pretended to account from the analogous disposition 



of these heavenly bodies, for all human occurrences, -and for 
the origin and the progress of every religion, — Christianity not 
excepted. Of this number was the very fanciful Caecus Ascula- 
nus. Others embraced the metaphysical principles of these 
philosophers, and undertook to reconcile them with religion : 
they failed in the attempt, and in general wandered wide of the 
truth. 



Fifteenth century of the christian era. 

After the defeat and captivity of the Turkish tyrant Bajazet, 
ivho was overthrown and taken prisoner in a great battle by the 
famous Tartarian prince Tamerlane, the empire of Constantino- 
ple enjoyed an interval of peace ; while Mahomet and his brothers 
quarrelled about the division of the Turkish dynasty. But no 
sooner had the former reunited his father Bajazet's dominions in 
his own person, than he recommenced with vigor the war 
against the Greeks. The Greek empire was now on the verge 
of ruin. The emperor implored the aid of the Western princes ; 
succeeded in his endeavours to reunite the Greek and Latin 
churches 5 and the decree of union procured very considerable 
succours to the Constantinopolitan empire. But no change was 
thus effected in the discipline of the Greek church ; nor was any 
alteration intended in its morality : notwithstanding which, the 
clergy obstinately refused to accede to the decree, or to admit to 
any ecclesiastical functions — those among their brethren that had 
signed it. The discontent soon became general, and the greater 
part of those that had promoted the union, were forced to re- 
tract : the council of Florence was impeached, and the decree of 
union was reprobated throughout the East. The emperor was 
determined to support his own act and deed 5 while the schisma- 
tical party threatened him with excommunication, in case he 
should continue to hold communion with the Latin church. 

Meanwhile Amurath and Mahomet II. were making daily ac- 
quisitions in the empire ; and every thing prognosticated the 
speedy fall of Constantinople. But bigotry and fanaticism re- 
gard the destruction of empires as of trifling importance 5 and 
the Greeks on this occasion deemed it an impiety to hesitate one 
moment — between the ruin of their country and their groundless 
rancor against the Western church. Mahomet II. took advan- 
tage of their prejudices, — laid siege to Constantinople, and en* 
tered it by storm about the middle of the fifteenth century. 

The German empire at this period w r as full of disorder and 
confusion : the emperors had no longer any authority in Italy 5 
and civil contention reigned triumphant in that unhappy coun- 
try. Robert the Short, who succeeded Wenceslas in the empire, 

k2 



76 

was not able to re-establish order ; nor indeed, were those that 
followed him more successful in the arduous attempt. 

France was not less turbulent than her neighbours. The im- 
becility of Charles VI, — the ambition of the dukes of Burgundy 
and Orleans; the murder of the last mentioned duke, which placed 
the crown upon the head of the king of England ; the exertions 
of Charles VII. in order to wrest"the sceptre out of his hands ; 
the disagreement of the dauphin with his father Charles ; and 
finally, the quarrels of Lewis XI. with the dukes of Burgundy, — 
of Berry, Britany, &c. ; and the wars of Charles VIII. with 
some of these princes, together with his military expeditions 
into Italy, kept the nation in a continued state of irritation. 

The peace of the church was disturbed by the baneful evil of 
schism. Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. contested the pon- 
tificate, and were both deposed by the council of Pisa, which 
then proceeded to the election of John XXIII. This extraor- 
dinary measure, instead of allaying, augmented the disorder, 
All Europe supported respectively the different interests of one 
or other of these three popes. At length, however, a happy 
period was put to this unfortunate division by the efforts of the 
general council of Constance. This council saw with regret, 
that the church, as well as bodies politic, was obliged to tolerate 
in her members various abuses and disorders, which called aloud 
for redress ; and with a view of promoting this salutary reform in 
discipline and order, commanded a synod to assemble at Pavia. 
For different reasons it was transferred to Sienna and then to 
Basil, whence pope Eugenius attempted to translate it to Ferrara. 
In this he was opposed by the prelates assembled at Basil ; and, 
in consequence, he dissolved the council. The refractory mem- 
bers pretended to depose the pope, and set up Amadeus of Sa- 
voy, under the name of Felix V. Eugenius excommunicated the 
schismatical synod, together with the newly elected pontiff; and 
the two rivals continued to divide the West, till the death of 
Eugenius. The mildness and amiable condescension of his suc- 
cessor Nicolas V. restored tranquillity to the church : Felix re- 
nounced his pretensions ^ and the schism terminated. The suc- 
ceeding popes were too much implicated in the wars of Italy, 
and were constantly occupied either in reuniting christian princes 
against the Turks, or, less laudably, with views of self aggran- 
dizement, and the interests of their families. 

The writings of Wickliff were now in extensive circulation ; 
they had been industriously disseminated over all Europe. In 
them Wickliff attacked the authority of the pope, and that of 
the church ; — their spiritual jurisdiction, as well as their tem- 
poral possessions. He inveighed with much profane scurrility 
against religious orders and the sacraments ; and he made it 
a point of conscience — to refuse the payment of tithes. In a 
word, Wickliff's works contained principles admirably suited to 



- 77 

characters of all descriptions, particularly to persons whose in- 
terest inclined them to oppose — the authority of the church, the 
papal jurisdiction, and the influence of the clergy. In England 
the Begards and the Lollards had joined the Wickliffites, and had 
formed a considerable party, which the authority of the king, 
and the efforts of the clergy combined, were hardly adequate to 
control. 

Certain theologians of this age maintained — to their full ex- 
tent — the immoderate pretensions of some of the Roman pontiffs, 
and subjected all things to ecclesiastic power. Other sectaries 
and writers, in the opposite extreme, sought to despoil the 
church and its pastors of their just prerogatives and unalienable 
rights ; while the more moderate and more virtuous part of 
christians wished to see the power of the pope and clergy re- 
duced within its proper bounds, and the abuses and corruptions 
which tainted the morals of the faithful, corrected and reform- 
ed. 

France, which abounded at this period with enlightened 
characters, — with learned divines and celebrated universities, 
preserved unimpaired both its civil and ecclesiastic liberty, with- 
out violating the attachment and respect due to the see of Rome ; 
barring only some few instances of a contrary tendency — the 
effect of indiscreet zeal, which was censured on its first appear- 
ance, and found no advocates to canonize it. Whereas, in 
England, which at this time could not boast the like literary 
advantages with France, and where the papal influence was in- 
finitely more absolute, the Wickliffites and Lollards were more 
successful : they made some proselytes, and gradually formed a 
party patronized by the house of commons — eventually too 
strong and fanatic to be intimidated by the power of the king, 
or annihilated by the rigours of proscription. 

In Germany, John Huss undertook to establish a reform of 
morals. The writings of Wickliff he conceived well calculated 
to diminish the authority of churchmen, to whom he was inimi- 
cal — from a persuasion that they would oppose his projects. In 
his sermons to the people he made much use of WicklifFs prin- 
ciples, and recommended them to his auditory — with effect. 
The clergy censured his doctrines, and summoned him to appear 
before his holiness at Rome. He was banished Prague ; and 
from that moment was confirmed in his resolution to prosecute 
more vigorously his system of reform. He declaimed a-new 
against the church, against the clergy, against the pope, and 
also against the abuse of indulgences which were sometimes 
granted without sufficient cause; likewise against ecclesiastical 
censures, occasionally prostituted to unworthy purposes, and 
denounced alike, he said, against the innocent and the guilty. 
These were specious pretexts for schism and contumacy in in- 



78 

feriors, very capable of imposing upon the ignorant, and of 
producing in them a spirit of revolt. 

Huss was ordered to attend the council of Constance, and to 
give an account of his seditious doctrines. He was condemned 
for his obstinacy, and punished by the secular power as incorri- 
gible in his errors. His followers took up arms; and the war 
undertaken to reduce them, was attended in Bohemia with all 
its usual train of horrors. That unhappy kingdom, with a part 
of Germany, became one vast wilderness inundated with human 
blood, and covered with the ashes of once-flourishing cities — 
of monasteries and other sacred asylums of religion. This dread- 
ful war terminated only with the final ruin of the whole fanatic 
sect. 

With the exception of the Wickliffites, and their auxiliaries 
the Lollards, &c. those enthusiasts who had formed themselves 
into societies apart in the preceding age, were now no more. 
Only a few frantic sectaries still continued to publish their ex- 
travagant and impure theories. One Pikard, for instance, and 
the Adamites, renewed the infamies of the Gnostics, and were 
destroyed by Zisca. Certain Flemish devotees turned prophets ; 
and some few Hussites had survived the general wreck, and re- 
treated into forests — or lived retired in lonesome caverns. 



Sixteenth century of the christian era. 

The conquest of the Greek empire did not satisfy the bound- 
less ambition of the Turkish emperors- They next attacked the 
provinces of the West, and established themselves in Hungary. 
Their warlike attitude alarmed all Europe ; it influenced and 
regulated the enterprises of the sovereigns of the West, espe- 
cially those of Germany, which the movements of the Turks 
seemed more immediately to affect. Against these hereditary 
enemies of the christian name, the sovereign pontiffs were soli- 
citous to unite the christian powers. Their zeal, however, had 
not the desired effect. They wished to allot the tenth part of 
all ecclesiastical property to the above important concern ; but 
this very laudable project also, was counteracted, and found im- 
practicable. 

The French had relinquished their Italian possessions ever 
since the reign of Charles VIII. During this interval the Vene- 
tians, the pope and the Milanese disagreeing among themselves, 
Lewis XII. took advantage of their quarrels, and re-entered 
Italy. Alexander VI. joined him ; and the whole dukedom of 
Milan was reduced within twenty days. This excited the jea- 
lousy of the emperor Maximilian, who apprehended lest, in the 
event of the French becoming masters of Italy, the imperial 
crown should be claimed by the kings of France. Ferdinand 



79 

too, was alarmed for the kingdom of Sicily ; and his views upon 
Naples must of course be disappointed, should the French influ- 
ence prevail in Italy. Italy therefore, became the seat of war, 
and the object of ambition — to the kings of France, the empe- 
rors, and the Spanish monarchs, until the abdication * of 
Charles V. 

In these perplexing circumstances the bishop of Rome must 
act in a double capacity ; as temporal prince, and as spiritual 
head of entire Christendom. Unhappily the obligations an- 
nexed to his character of head of the church, — obligations which 
have no other object than the interests of religion, the general 
peace of Christendom, and consequently, the good of Europe; — 
no other laws than those of charity, justice and truth, — some- 
times, by a dereliction of duty incident to human nature, were 
made subservient to the politic and selfish views of the sovereign. 
Nor can it be denied that there have been popes, who prostituted 
alike their temporal and their spiritual power — to promote the 
interests of their family, or what is still more scandalous, — the 
gratification of their passions. Such were, undoubtedly, — 
Alexander VI. and Julius II. at the commencement of the six- 
teenth century. On various pretences taxes had been levied up- 
on ecclesiastical property throughout the West ; and the 
sovereign pontiffs had thus been enabled to draw conside- 
rable sums from almost every province throughout Europe. 
The clergy murmured at this abuse; and, whenever it appeared 
notorious that the pope converted the money thus raised — to 
purposes merely temporal, France and Germany were in the ha- 
bit of withholding the supply. 

The sovereign pontiffs moreover, enjoyed many privileges 
burdensome both to the people and the clergy, and which, while 
they filled the treasury at Rome, drained very much those coun- 
tries whence they flowed ; and this — at a period when commerce 
did not supply the deficiency. These odious and oppressive 
privileges operated the decline of papal power in the West, 
where it had numbers of determined and very formidable adver- 
saries. 

In this ill boding crisis of affairs, Leo X. formed the project of 
erecting a magnificent fabric in honor of St Peter. Indulgences 
were granted to those who should contribute towards the erec- 
tion ; and great abuses were committed by the collectors, as 
well as by some of those who were commissioned to publish from 
the pulpit the unseasonable grant. Luther, an Augustinian 
friar, in his public invectives against these disorders reprobated 
the indulgences themselves. Leo anathematized his doctrine, 
and caused his writings to be burnt. The latter appealed from 
the pontiff to a general council, and in his turn ordered the pa- 
pal bull to be committed to the flames at Wirtemberg. This 
daring act of Luther much diminished in the minds of the people 



80 

that religious awe, with which the decrees of the sovereign pon- 
tiffs had hitherto impressed them, and Luther's audacity increas- 
ed in proportion. He next attacked his holiness's person. 
Meanwhile the imperial diet was convoked, and a decree was is- 
sued by Charles V. for his arrestation, with orders that the bull 
of Leo X. should be put in execution. One part of Germany 
took up arms in Luther's defence ; and several princes united to 
protect him. The empire was menaced by the Turks ; a cir- 
cumstance which prevented Charles from stifling this confedera- 
cy, and left Luther full liberty to alter at discretion — whatever in 
religion his testy palate and his passions did not well know how 
to relish. He became the apostle of seduction to a considerable 
part of Germany ; which embraced his new religious system, and 
separated from the communion of the catholic church. 

While this was transacting in Germany, Zuinglius, curate of 
Glaris, declaimed with equal violence against the indulgences 
published on the same occasion in Switzerland. This rival 
apostle makes a bold attack upon almost all the dogmata of 
faith ; discards at once all the ceremonies of religion, and alien- 
ates from the catholic communion one half of Switzerland. 

The changes thus introduced in the ancient creed and form 
of worship, Luther and Zuinglius denominate reform ; and 
themselves they style evangelical reformers. This title produces, 
almost invariably, a wild fanaticism both in the head and mem- 
bers of any new sect. It was the case in the present instance. 
Each of these grand innovators found enthusiasts prepared to 
undertake the promulgation of their errors through the various 
districts of Europe, — with the hazard of their lives : these make 
numerous proselytes to the sect ; communicate to their new con- 
verts their fanatic zeal, and disregard the perils and the tor- 
ments that, in some instances, await them. Denmark, Sweden 
and part of Hungary are drawn over to the schism ; and the 
English nation too, adopts a part of their novel opinions : they 
disturb the peace of the Low Countries, and lay the foundation 
of the commonwealth of the United Provinces, in Holland. 

The pretended reformation of Luther and Zuinglius quickly 
branched forth into a vast variety of independent sects, whose 
tenets w T ere as inconsistent with each other, as they were at va- 
riance with those of the catholic church. We will instance 
only — the Anabaptists, divided into thirteen or fourteen 
branches ; the Sacramentarians — into nine ; the Confessionists, 
into twenty-four ; — the Extravagantes, who rejected the con- 
fession of Augsburg, into six ; and we refer our readers to their re- 
spective articles. 

All these different sects multiplied very rapidly in Germany, 
and spread their discordant doctrines — in the Low Countries, — 
in France, England, &c. 

The superficially learned, and those who had no pretensions 



81 

to learning, were easily seduced by the sophisms of the re- 
formers ; — : a humourous remark upon theologians ; — a ridicu- 
lous conclusion attributed to catholics ; — an ambiguous passage 
of scripture ill understood by any commentator of the church of 
Rome, or an abuse detected and reproved by some reformer; — 
were esteemed abundant arguments of the ignorance of catholic 
divines, and proved the reform to be, forsooth, one and the same 
thing with the re-establishment of Christianity. 

We have observed already that the reformed were divided 
among themselves : they had no regular system of divinity, no 
common symbol of belief. Calvin stept forth to supply the desi- 
deratum. Calvin was a Frenchman, — a man of parts and erudi- 
tion. He had embraced the reforming principles, and laid down 
for the foundation of his doctrine the leading maxim among pro- 
testants, that Holy Scripture is the sole rule of faith, and that 
each private individual is competent to judge of its true sense and 
meaning. Furnished with this self-interpreting principle, he 
pretends to deduce from scripture every dogma of the reforming 
system, and decks out his very erroneous theories in a clear, me- 
thodical and not inelegant style. His doctrine made rapid pro- 
gress in different parts of Europe, particularly in France. 

Aided by the same principle which had been so eminently ser- 
viceable to Calvin, Socinus proceeded to retrench from Christiani- 
ty — all the mysteries which the former had retained ; and Servetus 
found that there existed in the universe but one individual sub- 
stance ! 

It is then an undeniable fact, that the rule of faith admitted by 
all the different descriptions of the first reformers, was scripture 
alone interpreted by each one's private judgment. It is no less 
an undoubted truth, that the genuine sense of scripture must be 
obtained either by inspiration, or exclusively, by the aid of rea- 
son. Thus the leading principle of the reformation evidently 
tends — either to fanaticism, — or to a system of Christianity 
which rejects all mysteries above the comprehension of human 
reason, and every form of worship the utility of which is not ob- 
vious to its natural sagacity unassisted by revelation. Time 
which allows a more extensive range to science, seems daily to 
do away, more and more perceptibly, the principles of fanaticism 
in protestant countries ; consequently, in the different societies 
of the reformed, there now exists a something which, silently 
though forcibly — impels the protestant to Socinianism. 

Such, eventually, must be the result of their favorite maxim 
of what they are pleased to term — Scripticre faith ; and it ought 
to impress all thinking men with the necessity of .tracing back 
their steps to that authority, which their fathers have so unad- 
visedly abjured in separating from the communion of the ancient 
church. 
• While these revolutions were taking place in the religious creed 



82 

df Europe, Bacon, Gassendi and Descartes, were more happily 
employed in dissipating unphilosophic prejudices which hitherto 
had been patronised in the schools ; and — in conducting man- 
kind in their investigation of natural truths. Their method, 
however, of subjecting all things to the tribunal of reason, and 
of suspending the judgment upon points of the clearest physical 
evidence — combined with the principles of the reformation, had 
this of inconvenience in it, that it disposed the mind to admit 
nothing as revealed but what reason comprehended, and to dis- 
cuss, too presumptuously, the grounds of revelation itself; — to 
investigate in every doctrine of religion — not the luminous prin- 
ciples which prove its certitude, but those mysterious obscurities 
which prevent us from having that perfect evidence — inconsist- 
ent with the incomprehensible mysteries of our divine faith. 
Commerce has facilitated the means of circulating these principles 
through every part of Europe ; and they absorb at present a 
great share of the attention of the literary world. 

Thus is human wit, after having tried during the long lapse of 
eighteen hundred years every method of self-delusion in matters 
of faith and christian morality, reconducted by the circle of its own 
errors, at the close of so tedious a career — to doubt the truth of 
Christianity itself. This religious pyrrhonism, often the effect of 
ignorance or levity of mind, and sometimes too, of habitual cor- 
ruption, which tends to produce a certain loathing for instruction 
in the duties of religion, will naturally find extensive patronage 
in nations of a lively and inquisitive turn of mind, incapable of 
the attention requisite for the disquisition of serious truisms, and 
already prepossessed with the erroneous maxim, that nothing 
must' be admitted as the doctrine of truth, which is not evident to 
human reason. 

CONCLUSION. 

ie If the piety of our readers is sometimes shocked at the re^ 
cital of the crimes which have disfigured Christianity, let them 
bear in mind those words of our dear Redeemer — it is necessary 
that scandals come. They are trials which ensure to his servants 
the recompence of their fidelity. Vice originates with the pas- 
sions : these religion does not annihilate ; it teaches us only, 
how we nfay subdue, while it leaves us still at liberty to indulge 
them. We must not, therefore, be surprised at seeing scan- 
dals in the church ; where noxious weeds shall be suffered to 
grow indiscriminately amidst the good grain, until the time of 
harvest : — it is likened by our Lord himself — to a bam-Jloor, on 
which the chaff lies mingled with the wheat ; — to a boat, 
in which there are both good and bad Jish. These comparisons 
employed by Christ our Lord in the gospel, declare to us, that 
in the church itself there sjiall be found disorders and abuses ; 



8S 

v/hich, indeed, it neither approves nor connives at, but laments, 
abhors and condemns ; and endeavours with unceasing effort to 
repress them, although it must not look for a complete emanci- 
pation from the evil, before the final dissolution of this earthly 
tabernacle. As long as it shall continue to sojourn upon earth, 
scandals will not fail to arise among the faithful; an inconveni- 
ence to which the very ministers of God shall equally be liable. 
To the pastors of his church Jesus Christ hath promised doc- 
trinal infallibility, not innocence of conduct : Go, saith he, and 
teach all nations ; baptizing them, and teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and behold I am 
with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. In vir- 
tue of which promise Christ our Lord is present w T ith his mi- 
nisters to secure them from error in faith, but not to privilege 
them from vice. He hath said, He would be with them in the 
act of teaching, according to the remark of the learned Bossuet, 
— not to ensure their fidelity in practising what he had enjoin- 
ed. Thus, speaking to the faithful, he bids them do what they 
should tell them, — not what they themselves might do= Never- 
theless we are not to imagine, that their preaching will be with- 
out effect. For as the word of God is never barren, and grace 
is always sure to accompany sound doctrine, it will at all times 
continue to produce a progeny of saints. Sometimes, indeed, 
the harvest will appear but scanty in comparison with the great- 
er multitude of the wicked ; but, notwithstanding the variety of 
abuses and disorders which scandalize the church, they will 
never be permitted to subvert it, or even to intercept its view 
from the discrimination of sincere seekers. In effect, at periods 
the most unpromising, and in ages the least favorable to virtue 
and to mental acquirements, we still discover bright instances 
of both. The morality of the gospel hath always been in prac- 
tice — with numbers of pious christians in every condition of 
life : each revolving age hath had its models of exemplary sanc- 
tity ; pastors of irreproachable demeanour ; holy virgins $ truly 
fervent religious men ; christians faithful to their duty, and 
persons sincerely penitent ; since, in fact, it was the spirit of 
real compunction and unfeigned repentance, that — from the 
eleventh century, when barbarism and impiety were at their 
zenith, introduced so many new religious establishments to re- 
vive the sentiments of Christianity in a disordered world ; God 
thus inspiring extraordinary personages to enter upon so laud- 
able a project. The church is essentially holy in her doctrine, 
and in her sacraments ; by the worthy participation of which 
many of her members never fail to attain to a state of holiness ; 
and all would do so, were they obedient to her precepts. If 
then there be found within her pale refractory and rebellious 
children, she will also have even in the worst of times a holy 
offspring and a virtuows race, so long as the preaching of the 

L 2 



84 



gospel shall endure — without interruption, until the end of time. 
St Augustine says, we must form our judgment of the holiness 
of the church — not by the scandalous lives of wicked christians, 
but by the edifying conduct of the good, who will never be 
wanting to solace her under her affliction for the sins of men. 
It is then an error to imagine, that her eternal duration can be 
affected by the scandals and the crimes of wicked livers. It is 
God himself who has given unto her length of days ; and neither 
the iniquity nor the persecutions of men shall be ever able to 
abridge them. Here below she is not, it is true, in the tabernacle 
of her repose: the earth, in her regard, is a place of trial, a strange 
and unknown land ; where she is environed with enemies that 
seek in vain to rob her of her most valuable property, that is — of 
charity and truth. However violent the tempests that assail her, 
the faithful christian needs not fear her being overwhelmed : He 
who commands the swelling waves is himself the pilot of this 
cherished vessel. He will bring her to a secure haven. Let 
him whose happiness it is to have been born and nurtured in 
the bosom of this catholic church, — instructed in its salutary 
doctrines, sanctified by its sacred rites, and educated in the 
principles of an inviolable attachment to its faith, — rejoice at the 
virtues practised by its true professors, while he laments the 
evils which he cannot remedy, and carefully preserves the unity 
of spirit in the bond of peace ; that desirable peace which sur- 
passeth all understanding, and which consists in the stability of 
faith and the consolation of hope, and — in a union of hearts 
by means of perfect charity." L'Aumont Hist. Abreg. de 
TEglise. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

Primitive Patriarchs through "whose medium successively, was pre- 
served the knowledge of the true God— from the creation of the 
first man down to Moses. The year of their birth before Christ 
is marked as follows : — 



Adam 


4004 


Lamech 


Cain 


4003 


Noe 


Abel - 


4002 


Japhet 


Seth - 


3874 


Sem 


Enos - J 


3769 


Cham 


Cainan 


3710 


Deluge 


Malaleel 


3609 


Arphaxad 


Jared 


3544 


Salem 


Enoch 


3382 


Heber 


Mathasala 


3317 


Phaleg 



3130 
2978 
2448 
2446 
2476 
2348 
2340 
2311 
2281 
2247 



85 



Helm - 


- 


2217 


Sarug - 


- 


2185 


Nachor 


- 


2155 


Thare 


- 


2126 


Abraham 


- 


1995 


Sarah 


. 


1986 


Ismael 


- 


1910 


Isaac 


- 


1896 


Jacob 


- 


1836 


Ruben 


_ 


1752 


Simeon 


- 


1749 


Levi 


- 


1748 


Juda and Dan 


1747 


Nephthali 


and Gad 


1746 


Isachar and Aser 


1741 


Zabulon 


- 


1740 


Joseph 


- 


1737 


Benjamin 


- 


1729 


Manasse 


- 


1712 


Ephraim 


- 


1711 


Caath, son 


of Levi 


1662 


Amram, son of Caath 


1630 


Aaron, son 


of Amram 


1574 


Moses, son 


of Amram 


1571 



After the death of Moses, 
who conducted the He- 
brew people — the pos- 
terity of Abraham — out 
of Egypt, Josue led 
them into the Land of 
Promise in quality of 
Judge - - 1451 

And after him Othoniel 1405 
Aod - - - 1325 
Debora and Barac 1285 

Gedeon - - 1245 

AbimeJech - - 1235 
Thola - - - 1232 
Jair - - - 1209 

Jepthe - - 1187 

Abesan or Ibisan - 1181 
Ajalon or Elon - 1174 
Abdon - - 1164 

Sampson, their great 
champion, flourished 
under the administra- 
tion of Heli - 1156 



Samuel next governs in 
the capacity of Judge 
from the year * 1116 
to 1095 

When Saul is proclaim- 
ed king, and is succeed- 
ed by David - 1055 
Solomon - - 1015 
Roboam - - 975 
Under this king's reign, 
ten of the twelve t. ibes 
revolted with Jeroboam, 
and constituted the new 
kingdom of Israel. 
The Icings of Israel were 
Jeroboam - - 975 
Nadab - - 954 
Baasar - - 953 
Ela - - - 930 
Zamri - 929 
Amri - 929 
Ochozias - - 897 
Joram - S96 
Jehu - - - 884 
Joachaz - - 856 
Joas - 851 
Jeroboam II. - 826 
Interregnum during 1 1 years, 
Zacharias - - 773 
Sellum - - 773 
Manahem - - 771 
Phacia - - 761 
Phacee - - 759 
Osee - 739 
Salmanasar, king of Assy- 
ria, puts an end to the 
kingdom of Israel 721 
Kings of Juda. 
Roboam - - 975 
Abiam - - 958 
Asa - - '"- 955 
Josaphat - - 914 
Joram - - 889 
Ochosias - - 885 
Athalia - - 884 
Joas - - - 878 
Amasias - - 839 



S6 



Ozias - 810 

Joathan - - 758 

Achaz - - 742 

Ezechias - - 726 

Manasses - - 698 

Amon - - - 643 

Josias - - 641 

Joachaz - - 610 

Joachim - - 610 

Jechonias - - 599 

Sedecias - - 599 

Nabuchadonosor, king of 
Assyria, overturns the 
kingdom of Juda 588 

Zorobabel reconducts the 

people into Judea 536 

And Jerusalem is re-built 

by Nehemias - 454 

From which period the 
high priests exercised 
the supreme power, 
though frequently in- 
terrupted by the suc- 
cessors of Alexander the 
Great — to the days of 
Mathathias - - 168 

Judas - - - 167 

Jonathan - - 161 

Simon shakes off' the Sy- 
rian yoke, and esta- 
blishes the reign of the 
Asmoneans - 143 

John Hyrcanus - 135 

Aristobulus takes the title 

of king - - 107 

Alexander Janneus 106 



Alexandra - 79 

Hyrcanus II. - 70 

Aristobulus the usurper 67 
Hyrcanus II. restored 63 

The Jews adopt a republi- 
can form of govern- 
ment, and Hyrcanus 
continues the office of 
high priest - 55 

Antigonus - 37 

Herod the Idumean de- 
clared king of the Jews 
by the Romans 41 

Archelaus succeeded He- 
rod his father, in the 
year of our Lord - 3 
Judea becomes a Roman 

province •* 6 

Herod Agrippa is made 

king by the Romans 37 

Agrippa II. - - 41 

Judea again reduced into 

a Roman province 44 

The Jews revolt - 66 

Jerusalem taken, and the 

temple burnt - 70 

From which period the 
Jews dispersed over all 
the nations of the earth, 
no longer form a politi- 
cal body apart, and have 
no temple. 
Our blessed Saviour's 
birth had taken place 
during the reign of 
Augustus. 



S7 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



SUCCESSION OF POPES AND EMPERORS. 



FIRST CENTURY. 

Emperors after Julius Ccesar and 
Popes. Augustus. 

St Peter Tiberius, Caligula, 

St Linus Claudius, Nero, 

St Cletus Galba, Otho, Vitellius, 

St Clement I. Vespasian, Titus, 

Domitian, and Nerva 

SECOND CENTURY. 



St Anacletus 

St Evaristus 

St Alexander I. 

St Xistus, or Sixtus 

St Telesphorus 

St Hvginus 

St Pius I. 

St Anicetus 

St Soter 

St Eleutherius 



Trajan 
Adrian 

Antoninus Pius 
I. Marcus Aurelius 
Lucius Verus 
Commodus 
Pertinax 
Didius Julianus 
Pescennius Niger 



THIRD CENTURY. 



St Victor 
St Xephirinus 
St Callistus I. 
St Urban I. 
St Pontian 
St Anterus 
St Fabian 
St Cornelius 



Nomtian. 



St Lucius I. 

St Stephen I. 

St Xystus, or Sixtus II. 

St Denys 

St Felix 



Septimius Severus, Caracalla 

Geta, Macrinus, Heliogabalus 

Alexander Severus, Maximinus 

The two Gordians — father and son 

Pupienus, Balbinus 

Gordian III. 

The two Philips — father and son 

Pacatianus, Decius 

Herennius, Hostilian 

Gallus, Volusian, CEmilian 

Valerian I. Gallien 

Valerian II. Salonius, Sulpicius 

The thirty Tyrants or Pretenders. 

Claudius II. Quintillus, Aurelian 



88 



St Eutychianus 

St Caius 

St Marcellinus 



Interregnum of eight months in 275 
Tacitus, Florianus, Probus 
Carus, Carinus, Numerian 



FOURTH CENTURY. 



t Marcellus I, 
St Eusebius 
St Melchiades 
St Sylvester I. 
St Marcus 
St Julius I. 
Liberius 
St Damasus 

U?'sicinus, 

St Siricius 

St Anastasius I. 



Dioclesian, Maximian 
Constantius Chlorus, Galerius 
Severus, Maxentius, Maximinus 
Constantine the Great, Licinius 
Constantine tbe younger, Constans and 

Constantius, Julian the apostate 
Jovian, Valentinian I. 
Valens, Gratian, Valentinian II. 
Theodosius the Great 



FIFTH CENTURY. 



St Innocent I. 
St Zozimus 
St Boniface I. 
St Celestin I. 
St Sixtus III. 
St Leo the Great 
St Hilarius 
St Simplicius 
St Felix II. 
St Galasius I. 
Anastasius II. 



The Roman empire being divided into 
eastern and western, the western 
was governed successively by the 
following emperors — 

Honorius, Constantius, Constans 

Jovinus, Constantius, Heraclian 

Attalus, Gratian, Valentinian III. 

Petronius Maximus, Avitus 

Majorianus, Libius Severus 

Anthemius, Olybrius, Glycerius 

Nepo*, Augustulus 

See Crevier's History of the Roman 
Emperors, 12 Vol. in 12. 

After Augustulus the Goths reigned in 
Italy, and their kings under the ti- 
tle of kings of Italy. These were 
superseded by the Lombards, and 
the latter were subdued by Charle- 
magne, who restored the empire of 
the West in the year 800. 
Emperors of the East. 

Arcadius, Theodosius the younger 

Marcion, Leo I. with a son of the 
same name 

Zeno, Basiliscus 



89 



SIXTH CENTURY. 



POPES. 



EMPERORS. 



St Symmachus Anastasius, Justin I. Justinian I. 

Laurentius. Justin II. Tiberius II. 

St Hormisdas 

St John I. 

Felix III. 

Boniface II. 

John II. 

St Agapetus I. 

Silverius 

Vigilius 

Pelagius I. 

John III. 

Benedict I. 

Pelagius II. 

St Gregory the Great 

SEVENTH CENTURY. 



Sabinian 
Boniface III. 
Boniface IV. 
Deusdedit 
Boniface V. 
Honorius I. 
Severinus 
John IV. 
Theodore I. 
St Martin I. 
St Eugenius I. 
Vitalian 
Adeodatus 
Domnus I. 
St Agatho 
St Leo II. 
Benedict II. 
John V. 

~Petei\ 

.TJieodore. 

Conon 

St Sergius I. 

...Theodore. 

, Paschal. 



Maurice, Phocas, Heraclius^ Con- 

stantine II. 
Heracleonas, Tiberius, Constans II. 
Constantine Pogonatus, Justinian II. 
Tiberius, Leontius 



M 



so 



EIGHTH CENTURY. 



POPES. 

John VI. 
John VII. 
Lisinnius 
Constantine 
Gregory II. 
Gregory III. 
Zachary 
Stephen II. 
Paul I. 

* Theophilact. 

• Constantine, 

Philip. 

Stephen III. 

Constantine > 

Adrian I. 
Leo IIL 



EMPERORS'. 

Tiberius Absimare 
Justinian II. re-established 
Philippicus Bardanes, Anastasius II. 
Theodosius III. Leo the IsauriaiL. 
Constantine Copronymus 
Leo Porphyrogenetus 
Constantine and Irene 
Constantine alone 



NINTH CENTURY. 



Stephen IV. 
Paschal I. 
Eugenius II. 

Valentine 
Gregory IV. 
Sergius II. 
Leo IV. 
Benedict III. 
•...«••.. ■•«••* 
Nicholas I. 
Adrian II. 
John VIIL 
Marinus 
Adrian IIL 
Stephen V. 

Formosus 

Boniface VI. 
Stephen VI. 
Romanus 
Theodore II. 



Succession of the Western empire 
resumed. 
Charlemagne, Lewis Debonnaire 
Ziztmus Lothaire, Lewis II. Charles the BaM 
Lewis the Big, Carloman 
Charles the Fat, Arnoul 

Empire of the East* 
Irene is superseded by— 
Nicephorus ; to him succeed — 
Anastasius Stauratius, Michael Curopalates 
Leo the Armenian 
Constantine, son to the latter 
Michael the Big 
Theophilus, Michael III. 
Basil the Macedonian 
Constantine, son to Basil 
Anastasius 

Sergius? 



91 



TENTH CENTURY. 



POPES. 

John IX. 
Benedict IV. 
Leo V. 

Christopher 

Sergius III. 
Anastasius III. 
Lando 
John X. 
Leo VI. 
Stephen VIL 
John XI 
Leo VII. 
Stephen VIII. 
Marinus II. 
Agapetus II. 
John XII. 
Leo VIII. 
Benedict V. 
John XIII. 
Benedict VI. 
Boniface VII. 
Domnus II. 
Benedict VII. 
John XIV. 
John XV. 
John XVI. 
Gregory V. 



EMPERORS. 

Western , or rather, German emperors, 
Lewis III. Conrad I. Henry the Fowler 
Otho the Great, Otho II. 

Eastern, or Constantinopolitan em- 
perors, 
Leo the Philosopher, Alexander 
Constantine VII. with Romanus 
Christopher and Stephen — 
All of thera emperors in the year 915 
Constantine by himself from 948 to 959 
Romanus II. Nicephorus, Phocas 
John Ziinjsces, Basil 



ELEVENTH CENTURY. 



Sylvester II. 
John XVII. 
John XVIII. 
Sergius IV. 
Benedict VIII. 

Leo or G?*ego?y 

John XIX. 
Benedict IX. abd. 

Sylvester and John 

Gregory VI. 
Clement II. 
Damasus II. 
Leo IX. 
Victor II. 



Emperors of Germany. 
Otho III. Henry II. 
Conrad II. Henry III. 

Of Constantinople, 
Basil, Constantine 
Romanus Argyrius 
Michael IV. Michael Calaphates 
Constantine Monomachus 
Theodora, Michael VI. 
Isaac Comnenus 
Constantine Ducas 
Michael Andronicus 
Romanus Diogenes 
Michael Ducas 
M 2 



92 



POPES. EMPERORS. 

Stephen IX. Cpnstantine Ducas 

. Benedict X. Nicephorus Botoniates 

Nicholas II. 
Alexander II. 

Honorins II. 

Gregory VII. 

Clement III. 

Victor III. 
Urban- II. 



TWELFTH CENTURY. 



Paschal II. 

Albert, Theodoric. 

Gelasius II. 

Maurice B our din. 

Calixtus II. 
Honorius II. 
Calixtus III. 
Innocent II. 

Anacletus, Victor. 

Celestin II. 

Lucius II. 

Eugenius III. 

Anastasius IV. 

Adrian IV. 

Alexander III. 

... Victor, Paschal, Ca* 

lixtus, Innocent 
Lucius III. 
Urban III. 
Gregory VIII. 
Clement III. 
Celestin III. 



German Emperors. 
Henry IV. Henry V. 
Lothaire II. Conrad III. 
Frederick I. Henry VI. 

Const antinopolit 'an. 
Alexis Comnenus 
John Comnenus 
Manuel Comnenus 
Alexis Comnenus 
Andronicus Comnenus 
Isaac Angelus 



THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

Innocent III. German Emperors. 

Honorius III. Philip, Otho IV. 

Gregory IX. Frederick II. Conrad IV. 

Celestin IV. William 

Innocent IV. Interregnum of some years 

Alexander IV. Rodolphus of Harpsbourg 

Urban IV. Adolphus of Nassau 

Clement IV. Constantinopolitan Emperors. 

Gregory X. Alexis Angelus 

Innocent V. Alexis Murzuphlus 



93 



POPES. 

Adrian V. 
John XXL 
Nicholas III. 
Martin IV. 
Honorius IV. 
Nicholas IV. 
St Celestin V. 
Bonifice VIII. 



EMPERORS. 

And after the taking of Constantino- 
ple by the Latins — Baldwin I. 

Henry, Peter, 

Robert and Baldwin II. 

At Constantinople, 

Theodore Lascaris 

John Ducas 

Theodore Lascaris restored, and 

John Lascaris — at Nice 

Michael Paleologus retakes Constan- 
tinople — and is succeeded by-*- 

Andi*onicus Paleclogus 



FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 



Benedict XI. 

Clement V. at Avignon 

John XXII. 



Petw 



Benedict XII. 

Clement VI. 

Innocent VI. 

Urban V. 

Gregory XL returns to 

Rome. 
Urban VI. 
... Clement VII Benedict 

XIII. 
Boniface IX. 



German Emperors* 
Albert, Henry VII. 
Frederic III. Lewis IV. 
Charles IV. Wenceslas 

Constantinopolitan . 
Michael Andronicus 
Andronicus II. 
John Paleologus 



Innocent VII. 
Gregory XII. 
Alexander V. 
John XXIII. 
Martin V. 
Eugenius IV. 
Clement VII. at 
Benedict XIII. 

VIII. 
Felix V. 
Nicholas V. 
Calixtus III. 
Pius II. 
Paul II. 
Sixtus IV. 
Innocent VIII. 



FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

German Emperors. 
Robert Sigismund 
• Albert II. Frederic IV. 

Constantinopolitan. 
Manuel (II.) Paleologus 
John VII. Paleologus son of Manuel 
Paleologus — till 1453, 
Clement when the Turks entered Constanti- 
nople by storm, and thus was ter- 
minated the Roman dynasty in the 
East 
See the History of the Lower Empire 
by M. Le Beau, 18 vol. in 12. 
Echard's Roman History, &c. 



Avignon Constantine 



94. 



SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



POPES. 

Alexander VI. 

Pius III. 
Julius II. 
LeoX. 
Adrian VI. 
Clement VII. 
Paul III. 
Julius III. 
Marcellus II. 
Paul IV. 
Pius IV. 
Pius V. 
Gregory XIII. 
Sixtus V. 
Urban VII. 
Gregory XIV. 
Innocent IX. 



Clement VIII. 
Leo XI. 
Paul V. 
Gregory, XV. 
Urban VIII. 
Innocent X. 
Alexander VII. 
Clement IX. 
Clement X. 
Innocent XI. 
Alexander VIII. 
Innocent XII. 



Clement XL 
Innocent XIII. 
Benedict XIII. 
Clement XII. 
Benedict XIV. 
Clement XIII. 
Clement XIV. 
Pius VI. 



EMPERORS, 



Emperors of Germany t 
Maximilian I. Charles V. 
Ferdinand I. Maximilian II. 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

Rodolph II. Mathias 
Ferdinand II. Ferdinand III 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



Leopold I. Joseph I. 
Charles VI. Charles VII. 
Francis I. Joseph II. 
Leopold II. Francis II. the now reign- 
ing emperor. 



NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Pius VII. 

See the Ecclesiastical 

History of Fleury.Dic. 

de L'Avocat, &c. 



ABE 95 



Abecedarians, — a sect of Anabaptists who pretended that, in 
order to salvation, a person must be unqualified either to read or 
write, and must be ignorant of the letters of the alphabet ; from 
which circumstance their name originates. 

When Luther had openly attacked the authority of the church, 
and of tradition 5 and had established the principle, that each 
private individual was competent to determine the sense of scrip- 
ture for himself, his disciple Stork advanced a step farther, and 
maintained that each individual among the faithful was equally 
qualified to penetrate the sense of the inspired writings, as the 
best divines ; that God himself was our immediate instructor, 
and that study took off our attention to the divine inspirations. 
Hence he inferred, that the only method to prevent distractions 
would be, absolutely not to learn to read. — This sect was some 
time considerable in Germany. (Stockman, Lexic. in voce Abe- 
cedar ii. Osiander, Centur. 16, /. 2. 

In every age ignorance has had its patrons, who affected to 
esteem it a christian virtue ; such were formerly the Gnosimachi, 
the Cornificians, &c. This absurdly ridiculous idea is at formal 
variance with Holy Scripture ; for, learning and wisdom, saith 
the wise man, excel in this, that they give life to him that pos- 
sessed them. (Eccles. vii. 13.) 

Abelard or Abaelard was a native of France, and flourish- 
ed towards the close of the eleventh, and good part of the suc- 
ceeding century. His misconduct, his literary contests, and his 
dogmatical errors, have concurred to make him a celebrated 
character. He taught logic and theology with great reputa- 
tion, and soon became the oracle of the schools. But having 
had the misfortune to implicate himself in an amorous intrigue, 
his subsequent miscarriages determined him to seek refuge in re- 
ligion. In his retreat he did not long remain inactive ; and he 
undertook to explain the mysteries and the truths of Christianity 
by sensible comparisons, and to combat by the authority of the 
philosophers and philosophic principles, the difficulties objected 
against religion by the sophistry of dialecticians. This is the 
object which he proposes to himself in his Introduction to Theo- 
logy, and in his book of Christian TJieology. 

These are the two most famous works which issued from the 
pen of Abelard. True philosophy, according to this writer, pa- 
tronises religion, and seeks to penetrate its spirit ; but if it does 
not succeed in dissipating the obscurity which envelopes its mys- 
teries, it concludes that it lies beyond its sphere to see and com- 
prehend all things, and infers the absurdity of rejecting any doc- 
trinal point merely because it cannot be conceived by human 
reason. Divine revelation, he asserts, should alone suffice to 
bring conviction to the understanding. After explaining the 



§6 ABE 

dogma of the blessed Trinity which he attempts to illustrate by 
imperfect comparisons — for all such are essentially imperfect and 
totally inadequate to give a clear idea of this sublime mystery — 
Abelard proceeds to treat of the Divine Power, and to examine 
— whether God could have done any thing which in fact he hath 
not done. He seems well aware of the difficulty of the question ; 
and to resolve it, he lays down as an invariable maxim, that the 
wisdom and goodness of the supreme Being are the springs 
which call his power into action : and from this principle he 
concludes, that whatever God has at any time produced, has 
been prescribed by his wisdom and goodness ; and if there be 
any good which he has left undone, the reason was, — it could 
not have been done, according to Abelard, consistently with his 
wisdom; and, by consequence, — what he has done, he could 
not have left undone, nor do any thing which he has not done. 
This doctrine, in its obvious sense, would appear to bear hard up- 
on the liberty of the Divine Being, and is consequently erroneous. 

Abelard's theological tracts were received with applause ; and 
they certainly contained some very excellent matter : but on the 
other hand, they contained also expressions somewhat novel, ex- 
traordinary opinions, and comparisons very liable to be abused — 
with real doctrinal errors. Abelard in consequence, was cited 
before a council assembled at Soissons by the archbishop of 
Rheims. His errors were condemned ; and he on that occasion 
recited upon his knees the creed which bears the name of Atha- 
nasius, and protested he had no other faith than that which it 
contains : after which he was confined in the monastery of St 
Medard at Soissons. A short time afterwards he was enlarged, 
and recommenced his theological exercises. 

Twenty years after this transaction, a council was held at Sens, 
in which several erroneous propositions contained in the writings 
of Abelard were condemned, and afterwards anathematized by 
the pope, to whom Abelard had signified it his intention to ap- 
peal In the list of the proscribed errors were the following : — 

Although the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the 
Son, he is not of the same substance. 

We can desire and do good by the efficacy of our free will, 
without the aid of Grace. 

We derive from Adam — not the guilt, but only the penalty of 
original sin. 

God can do nothing but what he has done, or will do here- 
after. 

Jesus Christ did not descend into hell. 

These with other erroneous propositions, and all the errors 
with which he was charged, Abelard retracted and condemned. 
He was reconciled to St Bernard before he died, and made an 
edifying end in a house dependent on the monastery of Cluni. 



A B Y 97 

Abelonians,—- sectaries of the diocese of Hippo, who professed 
an extraordinary veneration for Abel. They pretended that 
every one ought to marry like Abel, but not to use the privilege 
of matrimony. Thus husbands and wives lived together in a 
state of continence, and adopted a little boy and girl to succeed 
to their effects. (See St August. Hasr. 86.) 

Abstainers, — a name given in common to the sectaries of 
Tatian, and to the Manichees ; because they abstained through 
a superstitious motive from wine, matrimony, &e. See the ar- 
ticles Tatians and Manichees. 

Abyssinians or Ethiopians, — an African nation of the sect 
termed Jacobites. The church of Abyssinia acknowledges that 
of Alexandria for its mother church, without w r hose concurrence 
it does not elect even its own bishop. This custom, which is as 
ancient as the conversion of Abyssinia before 325 — when the 
council of Nice places the bishop of Ethiopia the seventh in 
rank, and next to the bishop of Seleucia, is au thorised in a certain 
collection of canons, for which the Abyssinians testify an equal 
degree of religious deference as for the sacred writings them- 
selves. Consequently, the faith professed in Abyssinia was the 
same with that of the church of Alexandria ; and the Ethiopians 
did not become Monophusites or Eutychians till after Egypt fell 
into the hands of the Saracens, and the Jacobites had intruded 
themselves into the patriarchate of Alexandria. 

The errors of the Cophts and those of the Abyssinians are the 
same. They believe in common what the church of Rome be- 
lieves relating to the mysteries of religion ; but they do not re- 
ceive the council of Chalcedon. They reject the letter of St Leo ; 
acknowledging only one nature in Jesus Christ, although they 
very inconsistently maintain, that the Divine and human natures 
are not confounded in the person of our blessed Redeemer. (See 
Perpet. de la Foi, t. 4, 1. 1, c. 11, Mendes. 1. 1, c. 6, Ludolf, 
Hist. iEth. 1. 3, c. 8, Voyage de Lobo par Le Grand.) 

They hold seven sacraments with the catholics, although Lu- 
dolf erroneously asserts, that they have neither confirmation nor 
extreme unction. In the same manner Ludolf, deceived by the 
silly answers of an ignorant Abyssinian when interrogated by 
him upon the subject, misguides his readers in stating, that the 
church of Abyssinia does not believe the real presence and tran- 
substantiation. Their liturgies quoted by Ludolf himself, for- 
mally assert the contrary. (Hist. JEth. 1. 3, c. 5.) This author 
acknowledges that the Abyssinians invoke the saints, and render 
to them a religious veneration ; that they pray for the dead, and 
honor sacred relics, as the Cophts also do ; but he is willing to 
attribute all this to the zealous though indiscreet sermons of their 
bishops : whereas it is a well known fact, that they have no 

N 



98 ABY 

other bishop in Ethiopia, but the Abuna or metropolitan 5 nor 
is it customary in that country to preach at all. Mr Ludolf is 
equally unfortunate in hazarding other similar conjectures. 

This people however, like the Cophts, observe the ceremony 
of circumcision, and some other Jewish practices; such, for in- 
stance, as abstaining from blood and from the flesh of things 
strangled ; although it is far more natural to conclude, that they 
have received these practices from the Cophts, than with Mr 
Croze to contend, that they have derived them immediately from 
the Mahometans or the Jews. (Christianisme d'Ethiopie.) 

Among the Cophts indeed, some regard their use of circum- 
cision as a compliment which they were forced to make to the 
Mahometans ; others as a practice merely civil. The Abyssini- 
ans are equally divided upon the origin and the nature of cir- 
cumcision ; some esteeming it a religious ceremony essentially 
necessary to salvation. Father Lobo was entertained with the 
following humorous anecdote by an Abyssinian monk. One of 
his sable majesty's plenipotentiaries had infested a certain foun- 
tain, and tormented in an extraordinary manner the poor monks 
that resorted thither for water. Him Thecla Aimanac founder 
of their institute had converted, and experienced no serious dif- 
ficulty in the undertaking, if we except the controverted point of 
circumcision; The black one absolutely refused to be circum- 
cised, till Thecla had convinced him of its necessity by dint of 
argument 5 and he performed himself the operation. This quon- 
dam devil taking afterwards the religious habit, died within ten 
years after his conversion, in the odor of sanctity. (Relation 
Hist, de l'Abyssinie, Le Grand, p. 202.) 

Abulselah, an Egyptian author who flourished abeut four 
hundred years ago, says that the Ethiopians, instead of confessing 
their sins to the priests, confessed them once in the year before 
an altar upon which some incense lay evaporating, and that 
they fancied they thus obtained the Divine pardon : Michael, 
metropolitan of Damietta, endeavours to justify this practice in 
his treatise against the necessity of confession : nor would it ap- 
pear extraordinary, that the practice should have passed out of 
Egypt into Ethiopia under the patriarchs John and Maria, who 
patronised this abuse. Zunzebo however, assures us, that in 
his country auricular confession was in use ; and the discipline 
of the church of Alexandria prescribed it. The genuine tradi- 
tion of any church must be collected from its ecclesiastical 
canons, and- not from abuses which may have superseded disci- 
pline. (See Perpetuite de la Foi.J 

In fact, the Abyssinians do confess their sins to the priests, 
and sometimes to the metropolitan, who when they accuse them- 
selves of any grievous crime, starts from his seat, severely repri- 
mands the sinner, and calls for his lictors. These without any 
ceremony fall to and Hog the penitent with all their might, till 
the people who happen to be in the church at the time, hasten 



ADA 99 

to intercede for the culprit ; when the Abuna proceeds to absolve 
him. (Ludolf, Hist. Eth. 1. 2, c. 6.) 

Some of the Abyssinian churchmen, as is generally the prac- 
tice all over the East, live in the married state. But neither 
priests nor deacons are allowed to marry after their ordination $ 
and the marriage of any monk or nun is deemed sacrilegious. 
With them a plurality of wives is not uncommon. This abuse 
the patriarchs of Alexandria have in vain attempted to suppress. 
Of all nations in the world Abyssinia abounds most in churches 
and monasteries. The sacred psalmody may be distinctly heard 
from one church to another, and often in many at the same in- 
stant. Each monastery has two; one for men, the other for 
women. The men sing in chorus, and always standing. Their 
musical instruments consist chiefly of -small drums which they 
have suspended from their neck, and which they beat with both 
hands. These instruments even the most dignified of their 
clergy use. They commence their music by striking the ground 
with their feet : then, as their devotion gradually increases, they 
throw aside their instruments ; begin to clap with their hands, 
to jump and dance and raise their voice to its utmost pitch. At 
last, they observe neither time nor pause in their psalmody ; and 
say with Mr Evans's jumping Methodists (see Jumpers) that 
David taught them thus to celebrate the praises of God, in his 
psalms where he says : all ye nations clap with the hands, 
rejoice before god, &c. (Lobo, Relation Historique de PAbys- 
sinie.) 

The church of Abyssinia is governed by a metropolitan, 
whom they style Abwia, that is, our Father. He is elected and 
consecrated by the patriarch of Alexandria, who never makes 
any native of Abyssinia metropolitan, that thus he may more 
infallibly secure its dependence upon the church of Alexandria j 
nor does he suffer any other bishop to be ordained in that coun- 
try but the Abuna alone. 

In the seventeenth century the re-union of the church of 
Abyssinia with that of Rome, was prosecuted for some time with 
considerable success ; but failed eventually through the extreme 
indiscretion and too forward zeal of those commissioned to effect 
it. This drew upon the catholics of Abyssinia a cruel persecu- 
tion ; and from that period the sole religion professed through- 
out the kingdom is the Copht, that is Eutychianism. (See 
Lobo, Relat. de P Abyss. Ludolf, Hist. JEthiop. Telles, t. 2. 
Thevenot. La Croze, Christianisme d'Ethiopie. The last men- 
tioned writer has fallen into similar mistakes with those of Ludolf.) 

Adalbert, or Adelbert, was born in France at the com- 
mencement of the eighth century. From his youth he was a 
notorious hypocrite and impostor. He pretended that an angel 
in a human form had brought him, from the extremities of the 

n 2 



100 ADA 

globe, certain relics of extraordinary holiness, by means of 
which he could obtain of God whatever he requested. Thus he 
delucfed the ignorant people, and drew after him a train of fe- 
male devotees, and a multitude of peasants, who in this age of 
ignorance and superstition revered him as a man of apostolical 
sanctity, and a worker of many miracles. By dint of bribery 
he prevailed upon some simoniacal bishops to confer upon him 
the episcopal dignity. 

From this period, his pride and vanity knew no bounds. He 
.did not hesitate to compare himself with the apostles and the 
martyrs, and refused to consecrate any church in their name ; 
but chose rather to erect and dedicate oratories under his own 
invocation. He distributed the parings of his nails, and his 
hair, to the silly populace, who rendered to them the same re- 
spect as to the relics of St Peter. When persons presented 
themselves at his feet to confess their sins, he would exclaim, — 
" I know your sins already ; your most secret thoughts are re- 
vealed to me : your sins are forgiven you ; depart in peace, — 
w T ith a steady conviction that you have heen effectually absolved." 
The deluded penitent then arose, in perfect security that his sins 
were pardoned. (St Boniface, Ep. 135.) 

Adalbert had composed a history of his own life — full of 
visions, false miracles and fables. He says he was born of poor 
and illiterate parents, but that God had crowned him even from 
his mother's womb. In her pregnancy she had dreamed that a 
calf had issued from her side. This, Adalbert would have it, sig- 
nified the grace which he had received by the ministry of St 
Michael. Adalbert also forged a letter which he ascribed to 
Jesus Christ, and which, he pretended, came from heaven 
through the ministry of the same St Michael. It runs thus : — 
" In the name of God, here begins the letter of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, which fell at Jerusalem, and which was found by St 
Michael the archangel at the gate of Ephrem, read and copied 
by the hand of a priest called John, who sent it to the city of 
Jeremy to another priest named Talasius ; and Talasius sent it 
into Arabia to another priest called Leoban. Leoban sent it to 
the city of Bethsamy, where it was received by the priest Maca- 
rius, who sent it to the mountain of St Michael the archangel ; 
and the letter arrived, through the medium of an angel, at the 
sepulchre of St Peter at Rome, where are the keys of the king- 
dom of heaven; and the twelve priests who are at Rome ob- 
served vigils of three days with prayer and fasting day and 
night." This ridiculous and apparently unmeaning forgery 
was, however, well qualified to catch the attention of the ad- 
miring and unsuspecting multitude. The impostor seemed 
aware of this. He composed the following prayer for the use 
of his sectaries: " Lord God all powerful, Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, Alpha and Omega % who sitteth upon the throne 



ADA 101 

above, upon the Cherubim and Seraphim ; I beseech and con- 
jure thee Angel Uriel, Angel Raguel, Angel Tabuel, Angel 
Michael, Angel Inias, Angel Tabuas, Angel Sabaoth, Angel 
Simiel," &c. &c. (See Cone. t. 6, p. 1553.) 

St Boniface, who labored with ^a zeal truly apostolical for the 
destruction of error, procured the condemnation of Adalbert in 
a council assembled at Soissons. But Adalbert, far from submit- 
ting to the censure, grew daily more extravagant. St Boniface 
had recourse to the pope, who called a council in which Adal- 
bert was again condemned. We hear no more of this fanatic 
and his absurdities from that time, excepting only, that St 
Boniface, by order of the Princes Carloman and Pepin, caused 
him to be confined. 

The irruptions of barbarians into the Roman empire had put 
an end to studies. Religion alone had endeavoured to revive 
them ; though even churchmen partook in the general disorder. 
The contempt in which the barbarians held the arts and sciences, 
and the necessity under which ecclesiastics often lay of subsisting 
by the labour of their hands, had made them very ignorant ; 
and the new converted infidels still retained a part of their an- 
cient superstitions. The rules of criticism were totally un- 
known ; and miraculous accounts were in high estimation, and 
seemed almost exclusively to engross the public attention. 
Adalbert remarked it, and improved this general disposition to 
his own vile purposes of hypocrisy and seduction. (See Fleury's 
disc. 3, sur L'PIistoire Eccles. and tome 4, de l'Hist. Literaire 
de France.) 

Adamites were sectaries who, the more perfectly to imitate 
Adam and Eve in the state of innocence, stripped themselves, 
and appeared stark naked in their public assemblies. This sect 
used no form of prayer, and looked upon all human actions as 
in themselves perfectly indifferent. They professed the most 
violent enmity against the Creator of this visible world, because, 
said they, he had degraded the native dignity of the human soul, 
and had confined it to a material body. Hence they esteemed 
it a sacred duty to transgress the laws imposed upon man by his 
Creator ; and this strange and impious principle, joined with 
the idea that all human actions are in themselves indifferent, 
must naturally tend to produce the most horrid licentiousness. 
Accordingly, we find that some Adamites indulged in every 
species of infamy and debauch ; alleging religion as the motive 
of their conduct. 

Various sorts of Adamites have made their appearance in dif- 
ferent ages : in the fourteenth century they were denominated 
Turlupins and the poor Brethren, A fanatic named Picard re- 
newed the sect among the Anabaptists. See the article Ana- 
baptist. 



162 AER 

Adoptionists — the followers of Felix, bishop of Urgel in 
Catalonia. Felix in a letter to Elipandas, archbishop of Toledo, 
who had consulted him on the subject, about the year 778 pre- 
tended to prove, that Christ as man is not the natural, but only the 
adoptive son of God ; a doctrine which he had already advanced 
in his public discourses. The rising error was condemned by a 
council at Narbonne in 788, and by another at Ratisbon in 792, 
while the emperor Charlemagne kept his court in that city ; and 
previously to both, by pope Adrian in a doctrinal letter addressed 
to all the bishops in Spain. Felix revoked his error, first in the 
synod at Ratisbon, and afterwards before pope Leo III. at Rome. 
Yet after his return into Spain he ceased not both by letters and 
discourse to spread his innovating principles. He was accord- 
ingly condemned again in the great council of Francfort in 794. 
Alcuin on his return from England whence he had been absent 
three years, in 793 had written to Felix a tender letter, exhort- 
ing him sincerely to renounce his error. But the unhappy man 
in a long answer, endeavoured to establish his heresy with so lit- 
tle reserve, as to fall into downright Nestorianism. This, in ef- 
fect, is the natural consequence of his erroneous opinion. For 
Christ as man cannot be called the adoptive Son of God, unless 
his human nature subsist by a distinct person from the divine. 
(See Nat. Alex. Saec. 8, diss. 5.) 

By an order of Carlemagne, Alcuin our countrymen, and St 
Paulinus, patriarch of Aquileia, solidly refuted the writings of 
Felix and Elipandus,— -the former in seven, the latter in four books. 
Alcuin added other four books against the pestilential writings 
of Elipandus, in which he testifies that Felix was then at Rome, 
and converted to the catholic faith. Elipandus not being a sub- 
ject of the French empire, could not be compelled to appear be- 
fore the councils held in the dominions of Charlemagne ; Toledo 
making then a part of the Moorish conquests. Felix after his 
relapse returned to the faith together with his principal followers, 
during the sessions of the council at Aix in 797. From that 
time, however, he maintained his former opinions in secret, and 
at his death in 815 left a written profession of his heresy. 

Aerius — a proud and ambitious monk, who had formerly 
professed the opinions of Arianism. His friend Eustathius was 
made Bishop of Constantinople ; — a crime which the envious 
Aerius could never pardon him. Eustathius endeavoured by 
the most conciliating demeanour to sooth his furious jealousy ; 
promoted him to the priesthood, and gave him the superinten- 
dency over his hospital. All this condescension on the part of 
Eustathius served only to inflame his passion ; and he never 
ceased arraigning the conduct of his superior. The good pre- 
late mildly remonstrated ; but without effect. Aerius proceeded 
to deny the authority of his superior, and ranked die priest- 



AER 103 

hood on a level with the episcopal dignity. He then wantonly- 
declaimed against whatever tended to enhance the credit of 
Eustathius, or to conciliate to him the veneration of the people. 
He reprobated all the ceremonies of the church, and the celebra- 
tion of festivals, in which the bishop bore a distinguished part : 
the catholic practice of praying for the dead he equally disap- 
proved ; and he denied that the church had power to institute 
fasts. 

Having thus digested his new system of reform, Aerius quit- 
ted his hospital, began to dogmatise in public, and seduced a 
multitude of ignorant people of both sexes who abandoned the 
church to follow him, and constituted the sect from him deno- 
minated Aerians. This sect was still in being in St Augustine's 
time ; and their religious errors have been renewed by our mo- 
dern reformers. It may not be improper to examine — upon 
what grounds. 

The church is a visible society which has its form of worship^ 
its ceremonies, and its laws : consequently, it must have it3 
superiors, and an order of men whose office it is to preach, to 
instruct, to legislate, and see their ordinances duly executed. 
This order of men Jesus Christ himself established in his church ; 
he commissioned the apostles to teach his doctrine ; he conferred 
on them the power to forgive sins. (John 20, v. 22, 23.) 
Throughout the New Testament, they are represented as the 
ministers of God, separated apart from the rest of the faithful, 
and established by the Holy Spirit for the government of the 
church. (1 Cor. c. 4. 2 Cor. c. 3. Act. c. 20.) There exist 
then in the church ministers who possess by divine right — a 
real superiority over the rest of the faithful. Nor are they all 
of equal dignity. The hierarchy is composed of bishops, priests 
and deacons. The bishops are the lawful successors of the 
apostles ; and the apostles were of an order superior to that of the 
priesthood. We see in the Acts of the Apostles, that St Paul 
and Barnabas established priests in the cities, who did not be- 
long to the college of the apostles : every where the latter are 
mentioned as a distinct order of bishops. (Acts xiv. xv.) 
At their tribunal exclusively, priests are summoned to appear. 
Consequently, bishops either by their institution, or by their 
ordination, and of course by divine right, possess a superiority 
of order and jurisdiction not enjoyed by the priesthood. This 
distinction may be traced through every age, and it necessarily 
supposes in the bishop a superiority of divine right : it is expressly 
noticed in the letters of St Ignatius ; — by Origen, and Tertullian. 
(Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. ad Ephes. Orig. hom. in Luc. 20. Tert. 
Coron. Milit.) Bishops alone had the exclusive right of ordaining 
bishops, priests and deacons; and the ordinations conferred by 
simple priests have always been esteemed invalid. In this the 
Greeks and Cophts, and Nestorians unanimously agree with the 



104 AER 

catholic church. The contrary opinion is subversive of the sacred 
hierarchy, adverse to Holy Scripture, inimical to tradition and 
to the immemorial practice of the faithful. Hamond and Pear- 
son have discussed this point very satisfactorily against the pres- 
byterians ; and Mons. Nicole has refuted the minister Claude 
upon the same subject beyond the possibility of aTeply. (Ham. 
dissert, cont. Blondel. Pearsonii opera posth. Pretendus Re- 
formes convaincus de schisme, 1. 3, c. 19. See also Petavius, 
dogmes Theolog.) 

This superiority of the episcopal order over the priesthood, 
does not give to bishops an unlimited authority. They are not 
infallible; and hence their jurisdiction has its bounds. Thus a 
bishop has no right, for instance, to command his priests to 
teach Arianism, which was condemned by the council of Nice ; 
or to alter the discipline ordered by that council to be observed 
by the universal church. Consequently, in the church there re- 
sides an authority superior to that of a bishop, binding him to 
respect its laws which he cannot oblige any of his clergy to set 
aside ; but he has power to enforce the observance of those 
laws, and to punish the refractory. As, however, the bishop 
may be deceived in the application and interpretation of the 
laws of the church, — to prevent or redress the mischievous conse- 
quences which might occasionally result, there lies an appeal 
from his decisions to a higher ecclesiastical tribunal. The 
church is a society purely religious, whose laws have nothing to 
do with" interests of a nature merely politic or temporary; 
whence it follows that, as the alliance of church and state cannot 
affect the essence and constitution of the church, the ecclesiastic 
and civil powers remain perfectly distinct, and are not at variance 
with each other. 

Aerius's objections to the catholic practice of praying for the 
dead are in formal opposition to what we read in the second 
book of Machabees (c. xii. v. 46.) It is a holy and wholesome 
thought to pray for the dead 9 that they may be loosed from their 
sins. Protestants indeed, have endeavoured to evade the force 
of this scriptural text, by denying the second book of Machabees 
to be canonical. Their exceptions are without foundation ; 
since the second book of Machabees was numbered among the 
canonical books of scripture — by almost all the christian churches, 
— in the decree of Innocent I. and in the fourth council of Car- 
thage. The doubts of some few fathers and particular churches, 
are of little weight against the unanimous consent of all the rest. 
Moreover, Jesus Christ in the gospel declares, that there arc cer- 
tain sins which shall not be remitted either in this world or in 
the world to come. From which words the fathers very ratio- 
nally conclude, that there are some sins to be forgiven in the next 
world, and that it is the duty of christians to pray for their de- 
ceased brethren. In fact, praying for the dead has ever been 



A G I 105 

in constant practice in the church. It was already the custom 
in the second age ; and Tertullian ranks it among the apostoli- 
cal traditions. Nor was it intended solely for the comfort of 
surviving friends, or to return thanks to Almightly God for the 
favours which he had conferred upon the deceased ; it was also 
to obtain for them a mitigation of their sufferings. (Joan 6, v. 
27. Tert. de Monogam. c. 10. Aug. de cura pro mortuis. 
Chrysost. Horn, in Ep. ad Philip, circa fin.) Praying for the dead 
most certainly is a practice very congenial with christian charity. 
Our love for Jesus Christ ought to unite us with his body, and 
make us feel an interest in the welfare or misfortune of his 
members. As then it is incumbent on the lovers of God, to 
rejoice at the happiness and the triumphs of his saints, just so 
ought we to compassionate the sufferings of his servants who 
have still the debt of punishment to pay to Divine justice. This 
we cannot better do, than by pouring forth in their behalf our 
pious supplications. All our controvertists have handled this 
subject in a manner highly satisfactory. (See also vol. xi. of 
Butler's Lives of Saints — All-Souls-Day.) 

The other erroneous doctrines of Aerius we shall briefly dis- 
cuss under the various articles Luther, Anabaptists, Qua- 
kers, WlCKLIFFITES, &C. 

Aetius — head of the Anomians or Eunomians. See Euno- 

MIANS. 

Agapetje — a sect of Gnostics who made their appearance 
towards the close of the fourth century. St Jerome says, that 
this sect was composed principally of abandoned female enthu- 
siasts, who endeavoured to seduce young men, and taught them 
that — to pure consciences nothing was impure. Another maxim 
of this execrable sect was — to swear and forswear themselves 
rather than reveal the secret of their abominable system. (St 
August. Her. 70. Stockman, Lexic.) 

Agarenians — a sort of christians who about the middle of 
the seventh century, exchanged the gospel for the alcoran. They 
denied the Trinity, and pretended that God had no son ; be- 
cause, forsooth, he had no wife. These apostates were called 
Agarenians, from their embracing Mahometism, the religion of 
the Arabians, who were descended from Ismael, the son of 
Agar. (Stockman, Lexic.) 

Agioxites — a sect of debauchees who condemned alike 
both matrimony and chastity, w T hich they affected to look upon 
as the inventions of the evil principle. These wretches aban- 
doned themselves to every species of vice. They appeared 
sibout the end of the seventh century, in the reign of Justinian 



106 AGO 

It They were anathematized by the council of Langres 
(Stockman, Lexic.) 

Agnoetes or Ignorant, — a denomination given— 1. to the 
sectaries of Theophronius, who towards the close of the fourth 
age pretended, that the Deity did not know all things ; and 
that he gradually acquired an increase of knowledge. This is 
an absurdity. It is most evident that a Being necessarily exist- 
ing must, of course, be endowed with omniscience. The Socini- 
ans of modern date have renewed this error of Theophromus; 
See the article Socinians. 2. Those too, are termed Agnoeres, 
who maintained that Jesus Christ had but a limited knowledge, 
and that he was ignorant of the time when the general judgment 
was to take place, and also of the place of Lazarus's sepulture. 
It does not appear that the sect attributed this ignorance to the 
humanity only of Jesus Christ, and not to his divinity ; — a dis- 
tinction, of which they do not seem to have been aware. The 
passage in which our blessed Redeemer says, that the Son of 
Man knew not the day nor the hour, had heretofore been the 
subject of eager discussion between the catholics and the Arians, 
the latter of whom would needs infer from these words, that 
Jesus Christ was not God. 

Some fathers, to do away the difficulty, answered that the Son 
of God meant only, by this passage, that he had no experimental 
knowledge of the matter. Others say, that Christ was ignorant 
in a certain sense — of what he did not think fit to disclose to 
man. He knew it not so as to communicate it to us ; he wished 
it to remain in our regard a profound secret. Some imagine 
that, in fact, the humanity or the soul of our blessed Redeemer 
was ignorant of the precise day of judgment. 

This latter explanation is contrary to the sentiments of the 
fathers ; but does not amount to heresy. The soul of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, although personally united to the Word, is not in- 
finite. It is true, in virtue of this union it knows whatever it has 
a wish to know : but as it is not infinite, it does not at one ex- 
tensive view comprehend all things. Thus when Christ told his 
apostles that he did not know on what day precisely the general 
judgment would take place, very possibly he might not give any 
actual attention to the circumstance. (Forbes. Inst. Theol. 1. 3> 
c. 2 J.) God, according to Origen, by this impenetrable secrecy 
in regard of the last day, desires to keep us in a contant watch- 
fulness and state of preparation, and to repress in us a vain cu- 
riosity, and idle researches into futurity — no wise conducive to 
our eternal salvation. (Orig. in Matt. &c.) 

Agonicelites, — the name of a sect who pretended, that 
standing was the only proper posture for prayer, and that to 
bend the knee in prayer was superstition, (Stockman Lexic.) 



A L £ 107 

Agricola (John Isleb) — was fellow-countryman and contem- 
porary with Luther, and his disciple. At first he abetted with 
much warmth the sentiments of his master. He afterwards 
abandoned him, and became his enemy. After a thousand va- 
riations in his doctrine and his creed ; after repeatedly retract- 
ing his errors and relapsing continually into the same dogma- 
tical inaccuracies, he revived an erroneous tenet which Luther 
had been forced to abjure. He had taught justification by faith 
alone, and that good works were not necessary in order to sal- 
vation. Hence Agricola inferred, that when once a person had 
obtained faith, he was no longer subject to any law T , and that 
laws were of no use whatever to him either for reprehending er 
directing him ; because, being justified by faith alone, good 
works became superfluous ; and because, in the second place, 
if he was not actually just, he might obtain his justification by 
making one solitary act of faith. Agreeably to this system, 
Agricola inculcated the principles best adapted to command our 
Jaith 9 and not the maxims most proper for the regulation of our 
conduct. (Stockman, Lexic. Sekendolf, Hist. Luth. 1. 3.) 

Luther loudly condemned this doctrine ; and Agricola sub- 
mitted to the censure, and repented of his docility, by turns. In 
fact, Luther could not solidly refute his system, as long as he 
upheld his own principles of justification, and continued to 
maintain them with Agricola. The conclusions drawn by the 
latter were evidently deducible from Luther's principles of jus- 
tification by faith. As Agricola rejected alike every species of 
law, his disciples were denominated Anomeans, that is a sect of 
men who will have nothing to do with laws. 

Albanians — so named from the country which gave them 
birth. They were a sect of the eighth age, who denied the law- 
fulness of any oath whatever ; also, original sin, the efficacy of 
the sacraments, and free will : they rejected oral confession as a 
useless practice, and reprobated all excommunications. They 
were a branch of the Manichees who had rallied in Albania 
after their expulsion from the empire of the East; and admitted, 
like them, a good and an evil principle, both eternal — though 
absolutely contrary to each other: they moreover denied the 
divinity of Jesus Christ, and condemned matrimony. The Mani- 
chean heresy was widely diffused, and every where found abet- 
tors, especially in France, where the sect had an infinite num- 
ber of its fanatical disciples. Ignorance was at this time ex- 
treme, and almost general. Many of the clergy were not much 
more enlightened than the laity, and of course not much su- 
perior to them in point of morality. The Manichees too, were 
equally ignorant ; but had the show of external regularity in 
their morals and demeanour : they cried out aloud against the 
abuses of the times, and against the disorders of churchmen ; — 

o 2 



108 A L B 

topics which are sure to seduce an ignorant and discontented 
people. 

To the almost general ignorance of the clergy and laity is 
due — thp rapid progress of those heretical sects which inundated 
Europe f cm the period above • nentioned, and lighted up the 
torch of long and cruel intestine wars even down to the seven- 
teenth century. See the articles Bogomiles, Tanchelin, 
Peter of Bruys, Arnold of Brescia, Albigenses, Wal- 
denses, Stadingi, Begard^, Fratricelli, Wickliffites, 
Hussites, Luther, Anabaptists, &c. &c. 

Albigenses — were Manichees who infested Languedoc to- 
wards the close of the twelfth century. The heresy of the 
Paulicians, or Bulgarian Manichees, was imported, originally, in- 
to France by an old woman, who found means to seduce certain 
persons at Orleans ; other Manichees, dispersed over the southern 
provinces of France, communicated their errors : nor did that 
excessive severity with which they were punished when detected, 
extirpate Manicheism ; it only made its votaries more circum- 
spect and artful. They hated the clergy, and burnt with the 
most furious desire of revenge for those rigors which had been 
exercised upon them, at the instigation chiefly, as they had rea- 
son to suppose, of churchmen. To effect their purposes, they 
endeavoured to vilify in the eyes of the people whatever tended 
to conciliate respect to ecclesiastics ; they ridiculed the sacra- 
ments and the ceremonies of the church, attacked the privileges 
of the clergy, pretended that the tithes should be withheld, and 
damned all clergymen indiscriminately, who possessed any fund- 
ed property. 

The ignorant people lent a willing ear to the insinuations of 
the Manichees ; and, from a marked contempt of the ministers 
of religion, they passed on to the contempt of religion itself — its 
ceremonies — and its sacraments, which they received only through 
the medium of ecclesiastics. 

The Manichees were poor, and affected in their exterior deport- 
ment great regularity : they condemned riches, and were soon re- 
garded by an undiscerning crowd as so many apostles. Their here- 
sy became on the sudden the favorite religion of a large proportion 
of both people and the nobility, in different provinces of France ; 
especially in regard of those powerful men who had invaded the 
property of the church, and who were enjoined by the decrees 
of synods, under pain of excommunication, to restore what they 
had wrongfully usurped : thus in a short time did the Manichees 
become a formidable sect. 

The Roman pontiffs sent their legates into the southern pro- 
vinces of France — to arrest, if possible, the progress of this heresy. 
The great St Bernard was deputed thither ; and he converted 
numbers of fanatics to the catholic faith ; but he could not im- 



ALB 109 

part his spirit to the clergy ; nor his talents, nor his enlightened 
principles, nor his pure zeal ; and, after his departure, error ac- 
quired a more extensive range. 

Its proselytes — in Provence, in Burgundy, and in Flanders, 
were known by the -various names of Publicans, Good Men, 
&c. In a short time, so prodigious was their increase in Lan~ 
guedoc, that the kings of England and France deemed it neces- 
sary to send among them the most enlightened prelates of their 
respective realms, to assert the cause of religion and that of 
truth. Headed by the apostolical legate, they entered Tou- 
louse amidst the insulting clamours of the populace, who com- 
plimented them with the opprobrious epithets of — heretics, hy- 
pocrites, and apostates. One of the prelates harangued the 
multitude, and in his discourse refuted all their errors — with such 
a happy effect, that, intimidated by the force of his arguments, 
and awed too, perhaps, by the power of the Count of Toulouse, 
no one dared to speak his sentiments in public, or openly to 
advocate the desperate cause. 

This was the only good effect of the mission : a few of the 
most noted sectarists were excommunicated and confined ; and 
thus error was silenced for the moment, not reclaimed. 

After similar ineffectual attempts to convert the Albigenses, 
in one of which the pope's legate had been assassinated, a crusade 
was set on foot against them. At its head appeared the Abbot 
of Citeaux, the Duke of Burgundy, the Counts of Nevers, of 
Montfort, &c. A series of the most dreadful disorders ensued 5 
and both parties seemed to rival each other in acts of cruelty and 
rapaciousness. The wretched Albigenses were eventually re- 
duced, and treated with the utmost inhumanity to force them 
to abjure the errors of their sect. With the ancient Manichees 
they admitted two first principles or gods. The one they suppos- 
ed to be the creator of things invisible, and termed him the Good 
Principle : the other they denominated the Evil Principle, and 
believed him to be the author of all things visible. The Old 
Testament they rejected, as the production of the latter, while 
they revered the authority of the gospels, as being the work of 
their better principle. They affirmed that all the fathers of the 
Old Testament were damned ; and that John the Baptist was 
one of the arch-demons. Others among these fanatics held only 
one Creator, but that he had two sons, our Saviour Christ, and 
the Devil. The Roman church they called a den of thieves, 
and the where of Babylon — as some of our enlightened protestant 
brethren are pleased to term it to this day. 

Among other monstrous doctrines of these miscreants, they 
taught that matrimony was neither more nor less than a sworn 
prostitution ; and that carnal commerce with a mother, a sister, 
or a daughter, was no greater crime than to have connection 
with any other woman. Then- immoral theory and their prac- 



110 A M A 

tice were in perfect unison ; as we are informed by contempo- 
rary authors of unimpeached veracity. (See Lucas Tudensis, 
Gulielmus de Nangis, Petrus de Valie Cernaii, &c) 

It would be tedious and disgusting to the pious reader to de- 
tail in full the various impieties of this diabolical heresy. What 
lias made Moris. Basnage strain every nerve to exculpate the 
Albigenses from the imputation of Manicheism, is their holding 
also the Sacramentarian doctrines, in opposition to the catholic 
church. Catholics need not envy the Reformed such glorious 
precursors. In fact, Basnage has proved only, that in Languedoc 
there existed sectaries — of principles diametrically opposed to the 
Manichees. This indeed, no body ever contested. The province 
was overrun with sectaries of various denominations. But, that 
sect in particular, denoted by the appellation of Albigenses, 
against which the crusade was formed, were evidently Mani- 
chees — from the concurrent testimony of all the monuments of 
those times, the councils, the interrogatories then instituted, 
and the distinction always expressly made between the Albigenses, 
the Waldenses and other fanatics of the day. Nor were the 
Albigenses themselves uniform in their system of faith, and much 
less so in their moral conduct. The life of their predestiiiate 
was extremely austere ; and their doctors had taught the silly 
people to believe, that if they could but recite the our Father at 
the hour of dissolution, and obtain their benediction, no- 
thing more was requisite. for their admission into heaven, and the 
full atonement of all their crimes, 

Amauri, — was a native of the diocese of Chartres, and had 
received clerical orders. He made considerable progress in the 
study of philosophy at Paris, and taught with reputation at the 
commencement of the thirteenth century. The works of Aris- 
totle were then fashionable in France ; and all the Arabian phi- 
losophers had adopted him for their guide in the study of 
logic, which was at that time almost the sole department of phi- 
losophy in general cultivation at the schools. Amauri's curiosity 
impelled him to examine also the metaphysical and physical com- 
positions of that ingenious pagan philosopher ; and in his re- 
searches concerning the formation and origin of the universe, 
he chose to follow his own conjectures, rather than the light ofreve- 
tion, which, however, he pretended to reconcile with the system 
of Aristotle, or — to speak more accurately — with that of his dis- 
ciple Strato. Strato combining the various opinions of his mas- 
ter Aristotle, attempted to account for the existence of all things 
in the universe by supposing matter to have been endowed 
with an inherent principle of motion from eternity. This absurd 
system was embraced, in after ages, by some Arabian commen- 
tators of Aristotle ; and ascribed to him. It had been imported 
into the West together with the writings of these philosophers. 



ANA 111 

It is said, that the famous John Scotus Erigeiia had taught — - 
that there was but one substance in the world ; — which was pri- 
meval matter, and to which he gave the name of God. This 
was also Amauri's impious and extravagant opinion, and with it 
he affected to identify the sacred narrative of Holy Scripture. 
The university of Paris exclaimed aloud against the upholder 
of such doctrine ; and Amauri appealed from its decision to the 
Roman pontiff, who approved the sentence of the university. 
To the papal authority Amauri thought fit to acquiesce, and re- 
tired to the monastery of St Martin, where he ended his days in 
sullenness and remorse. (See Gul. Armorii, Hist, de vit. Philip. 
ad an. 1209, d'Argentre loc. cit. S. Th. contr. Gent. c. 17.) 
Such is the extravagance and such the obstinacy of systematic 
pride ! Amauri left behind him a disciple called David de Di~ 
nant. See this article. 

Anabaptists — so called from their re-baptising those who 
had received baptism in their infancy. According to Luther, 
the sacraments could not effect the justification of christians ; but 
only the faith of the receiver. From this principle, Stork, one 
of Luther's disciples, concluded that infants could not be justi- 
fied by the sacrament of baptism, and that it was necessary to 
re-baptise all who had been baptised in their infancy ; because 
at that time they were incapable of forming an act of faith, by 
which alone a christian applies to himself the merits of Jesus 
Christ, conformably to Luther's system. The latter had esta- 
blished his doctrine neither upon tradition, nor upon the deci- 
sions of councils, nor upon the authority of the fathers; but, 
as he declared, upon scripture alone. Stork observed that in- 
fant baptism was not mentioned in holy scripture ; on the con- 
trary, that previous instruction seemed there to be insinuated, 
as necessary ; and that persons were actually to believe when 
admitted to the font. Hence he inferred, that infant baptism 
was an anti-scriptural practice ; and that those who had been 
baptised in their infancy, had not, in fact, received the sacra- 
ment at all. 

Some colleges among the reformed patronised this new doc- 
trine ; and it began, at length, to be published from the pulpit. 
Stork, the better to vindicate his opinion, availed himself of the 
fundamental maxim of the reform, namely, that nothing ought 
to pass for revealed doctrine necessary to salvation, which was 
not contained in holy scripture: as for fathers, councils, and 
divines, togther with polite literature in general, — all these he 
discarded as polluted sources, and maintained that learning only 
filled the heart with pride, and the brain with science altogether 
useless and replete with danger. Thus he secured the suffrages 
of the ignorant, the stupid, and the mob, who were all well 
pleased to see themselves dubbed doctors of theology by this 



112 ANA 

agreeable conceit of their new apostle. As Luther had farther 
insinuated, that the Holy Ghost had inspired him with extra- 
ordinary lights ; and that similar inspirations were not refused 
to those who asked them ; Stork declared that these same in- 
spirations and interior admonitions of the Divine Spirit were 
the rule of faith and conduct to every true believer. Carlosta- 
dius, Muncer, and other protestants, adopted the principles of 
Stork ; and the Anabaptists now formed at Wirtemberg itself 
a powerful sect. At the head of this sect, Carlostadius and 
Muncer, in their pious zeal, flew from church to church to de- 
stroy the pictures and images of the saints, and abolished every 
remnant of the catholic worship which Luther had thought fit 
to leave inviolate. Luther hastened out of his retreat ; preached 
against the Anabaptists, and caused Muncer, Stork, and Car- 
lostadius, to be banished Wirtemberg. Carlostadius retired 
into Switzerland, where he laid the foundation of the doctrine of 
the Sacramentarians ; while Stork and Muncer dogmatised in 
Suabia, Thuringia and Franconia, and every where dissemina- 
ted their new gospel ; preaching alike against Luther and the 
pope. The latter, according to Stork, overwhelmed the con- 
sciences of christians with a multitude of practices, — to say the 
least, superfluous : the former authorised a scandalous relaxa- 
tion of christian morality in contradiction to the gospel, and a 
dissolution not inferior to that of Mahometism. The Anabap- 
tists gave it out, that they had received a commission from 
above to abolish the too severe religion of the pope, and the 
licentious sectarism of Luther : the whole duty of a perfect 
christian, they said, consisted in a life exempt from pride and 
ambition, and free from vice. 

Stork and Muncer now conceived the design of forming in 
the heart of Germany a new and independent monarchy ; while 
some of their brethren, of more pacific dispositions, thought it 
criminal to stand upon their own defence even against the most 
wanton and unprovoked attacks of their enemies. The people 
of Mulhausen respected Muncer as a prophet, divinely com- 
missioned to free them from oppression. They expelled their 
magistrates, declared all property to be common stock, and pro- 
claimed Muncer judge of Israel. This new Samuel wrote to the 
sovereigns and various states of Europe, to notify to them that 
the time was now come when a final period should be put to the 
oppression of the people and the tyranny of kings ; and that 
God had commanded him to exterminate the whole race of 
tyrants, and to establish over the people men of virtue and real 
merit. The flame of sedition quickly spread over the greatest 
part of Germany ; and Muncer soon found himself at the head 
of a formidable army ; whole districts suddenly rising in rebellion 
and flying to his standard. The disorders committed by this 
religious banditti, alarmed the princes of the neighbouring 



ANA 113 

states, and forced them to take the field. At their head was the 
Landgrave of Hesse, who fell upon Muncer before he could be 
joined by the several bodies of insurgents on their march to rein- 
force him. Muncer was discomfited ; and more than seven 
thousand Anabaptists perished on this occasion. Their fanatic 
leader was himself taken, and a short time after executed. (See 
Catrou, Hist, des Anab. Sieidam, 1. 10, Seckendorf Comment. 
Hist. &c.) The defeat and death of Muncer did not extinguish 
Anabaptism in Germany : the party, indeed, was no longer 
formidable; although it seemed even to increase in numbers. 
Its sectaries, odious alike to catholics, to protestants and sacra- 
mentarians, were persecuted and defamed throughout the Ger- 
man territories. In Switzerland, the Low Countries, and in 
Holland, they .were treated with still greater rigor; numbers 
were put to death, and the prisons were crowded with these poor 
deluded people. Their enthusiasm, however, could not be sub- 
dued by terror ; and they still continued to increase. From 
time to time there appeared among them impostors who promised 
them more happy times. Matthewson, a baker at Haarlem, sent 
ten apostles into Friesland, to Munster and other places. At 
Munster were already some Anabaptist proselytes, who received 
the new apostles as emissaries from heaven. They all assembled 
together in a body at night ; and Matthewson's vice-dep it) con- 
ferred upon them the apostolic spirit, which they were eagerly 
waiting to receive. They appeared not much in public, till their 
numbers were greatly augmented; when they suddenly ran up 
and down the country exclaiming : Repent ye, and do penance 
and be baptised, that the wrath of God may not fall upon you. 
The spirit of fanaticism was quickly diffused ; and when the magi- 
strates set forth an ordinance against them, the Anabaptists flew 
to arms, and seized upon the market-place : the townsmen took 
their post in another quarter of the city. Thus they guarded 
each other during three days ; till they at length agreed to lay 
down their arms, and that both parties should mutually tolerate 
each other, notwithstanding their difference of sentiments in mat- 
ters of religion. 

Meanwhile the Anabaptists dispatched secret messages to dif- 
ferent parts, informing by letter their adherents, that a prophet 
inspired by the Holy Spirit was come to Munster; that he pre- 
dicted marvellous events, and instructed men in the true method 
of saving their souls. In consequence of this intelligence a pro- 
digious number of Anabaptists repaired to Munster ; upon which 
several of the party ran up and down the streets, crying out with 
all their might: Retire all ye wicked from this place, if you wish 
to escape entire destruction : all those who refuse to be rebaptised, 
will be knocked on the head. The clergy and the natives then 
abandoned the town ; and the Anabaptists pillaged the churches 
and forsaken houses ; and committed to the flames all books in- 



114 ANA 

discriminately, except the Bible. Soon after the town was be* 
sieged; and Matthewson sallying out upon the assailants, was 
himself numbered among the slain. His death was a thunder- 
bolt to the party ; till John Becold revived their drooping spirits 
by running naked through the streets, and crying out: the king 
of Sion is at hand. After this extraordinary frolic, he retired to 
his lodgings, and dressed himself as ordinary ; but stirred not out 
of doors. The next morning the people attended in crouds to 
learn the cause of so mysterious a proceeding. John Becold 
. answered not a word; but signified in writing, that God had 
enjoined him silence for three days. The term of his mutism 
was expected with impatience ; and then with a prophetic tone he 
declared to the people, that God had commanded him to esta- 
blish twelve judges over Israel. He named them, and introduced 
in-the government of Munster whatever alterations he thought 
fit. 

When the impostor deemed himself sufficiently secure of the 
good opinion of the multitude, a certain goldsmith presented him- 
self before the judges, and said to them : " Hear what the Lord 
God eternal saith. As heretofore I established Saul king of 
Israel, and after him David, although he was but a simple shep- 
herd'; so I this day establish my prophet Becold, king in Sion." 
Another prophet stepped forth and presented him with a sword, 
saying : " God establisheth thee king, not of Siononly, but of all 
the earth." The credulous people, in transports of joy, pro- 
claimed the new king of Sion, and caused a crown of gold to be 
made for the occasion, and money to be coined in his name. 

Without loss of time, Becold dispatched twenty-six apostles 
to their various destinations, with commission every where to 
propagate his empire. Confusion and disorder marked the pro- 
gress of these new missionaries, particularly in Holland, where 
John of Ley den pretended that God had made him a present of 
Amsterdam, and of several other cities. Here the Anabaptists, 
after exciting much tumult and sedition, were many of them pu- 
nished with death. The king of Sion learnt with extreme con- 
cern the deplorable mischances of his apostles. All was now 
despondency in Munster: the town was taken, and king Becold 
himself was put to an ignominious and cruel death. Thus ter- 
minated the reign of Anabaptism at Munster, in the year 1536. 

For many years afterwards, a sanguinary persecution raged 
against the sect in Holland. Nor were they treated with lesa 
severity in England. In Germany and Switzerland, they found 
means incessantly to repair their daily losses ; while nothing but 
the most determined fanaticism could rescue them from utter 
destruction. Taught,- however, by their dreadful disasters, 
they at length began to wave their extravagant pretensions to 
universal monarchy, and to unite themselves with their more 
pacific brethren. The denomination of Pacific was given to 



ANA 115 

those Anabaptists whose peaceful dispositions inclined them to 
retire from society, and to form apart an establishment purely 
religious. Of this character were Hutter, Gabriel and Menno, 
who instituted the confraternities of the brethren of Moravia 
and the Mennonites. Hutter and Gabriel, both of them dis- 
ciples of Stork, purchased in Moravia an extensive district of 
fertile though uncultivated soil. After which they travelled 
through Silesia, Bohemia, Stiria and Switzerland, declaring 
to all, that God had chosen a people according to his own heart ; 
and that this people was dispersed among the nations of infi- 
delity : but that the time to gather together the children 01* 
Israel was now come, and that it behoved all true believers to 
abandon Egypt, and pass into the Land of Promise. 

Having thus formed a society sufficiently numerous, Hutter 
drew up a symbol of belief, and a code of laws. The symbol 
purported — 1. That God in every age had chosen to himself 
a holy nation, which he had made the depository of the true 
religion ; that this people was undoubtedly the very same which 
he (Hutter) was now collecting from among the children of per- 
dition, to settle in Moravia — the Land of Promise ; and that, 
finally ,-^-to abandon 'the chief, or to neglect the ordinances of the 
conductor of Israel, was a certain prelude to damnation. — 2. That 
all societies which do not hold their property in common, are to 
be reputed impious. — 3. That Jesus Christ is not God, but 
only a prophet. — 4. That christians must acknowledge no other 
magistrates than the pastors of the church. — 5. That almost all 
the exterior marks of religion are contrary to the spirit of Chris- 
tianity ; and that it is unlawful to keep images. 6. That all 
who are not re-baptised, are in fact infidels ; and that the mar- 
riages contracted before this new regeneration, are annulled by 
the engagement which is therein made with Jesus Christ. — 
7. That baptism does not do away original sin, nor confer 
grace ; but is only a sign by which every christian submits his 
person to the government of the church. 8. That the mass is 
an invention of Satan ; purgatory a dream ; the invocation of 
saints an injury offered to Almighty God ; and that the body of 
Jesus Christ is not really present in the eucharist. 

Such were the doctrines of the Anabaptists who under Hutter 
took the name of Bi'ethren of Moravia, the place of their chief 
settlement. After various reverses, Hutter was arrested and 
condemned to the stake. From that moment the Anabaptists 
of Moravia began to lose their primitive fervor 5 and their colo- 
nies sunk into indolence and every species -of vice. About the 
year 1620, the Moravian community was almost totally sup- 
pressed. Vast numbers retired into Transylvania, and were 
incorporated with the Socinians. Many also of the Moravian 
brethren, after the Quakers had settled on the continent of 
North America, and opened an asylum for all christian sects of 

p 2 



116 ANA 

whatever denomination, quitted Europe for that new hemisphere 
of the globe, where they still continue undisturbed. 

Another branch of Anabaptists, upon the extinction of their 
kingdom of Munster, united under the conduct of one Menno, 
who relinquished a curacy in Friesland, to become their bishop. 
So active was his zeal, that in a short time he made great mul- 
titudes of proselytes — in Friesland, Westphalia, Guelders, Hol- 
land, Brabant and divers other places, notwithstanding the 
rigours of persecution employed against them. The Men- 
nonites, however, soon disagreed among themselves, mutually 
thundering out excommunications against each other ; nor could 
their differences be terminated by the decrees of their synods, 
nor even by the hardships which they had to suffer from the 
other sects of reformers, and from the magistrates. The Men- 
nonites now consist of two distinct societies in Holland — the 
Waterlanders and the Flamanders. In these are comprehend- 
ed the Frison and German Mennonites, who are the genuine 
sect of the ancient Anabaptists, although they are more tem- 
perate than Were their predecessors in Germany and Switzerland. 
Among the Flamanders are found great numbers of Socinians. 
In 1664<, they were forbidden by the authority of the then ex- 
isting government to dispute concerning the divinity of Jesus 
Christ. 

In general, the Mennonite Anabaptists acknowledge the di- 
vinity of Jesus Christ, but refuse obedience to the church, the 
councils, or any ecclesiastical assembly whatever. They reject 
infant baptism, and maintain that no society has an exclusive 
right to the title of true church ; and that Luther's reformation 
cannot be reputed the handy work of God. They admit the 
necessity of obeying the civil magistrate, although they will not 
allow to churchmen any authority by divine right, and say, that 
excommunication, ever since the time of the apostles who alone, 
according to them, were established by Almighty God, ha* 
been of no effect. In 1660, the Anabaptists of Alsace sub- 
scribed to the confession of faith held by the Flandrican Ana- 
baptists. Those of Hambourg maintain the same religious 
code with the Waterlanders. 

It was a fundamental principle of Anabaptism, that God was 
the immediate instructor of the faithful, and that the holy spirit 
himself directed them in their belief and practice. Agreeably 
to this principle, each individual Anabaptist mistook his own 
private conceits, however extravagant they might be, for so 
many revealed truths. Hence arose among them a variety of 
sects, whose creeds accorded only in one solitary article, namely, 
that those who had been already baptised before their conver- 
sion, ought to be baptised a second time. In other instances, 
they had each their peculiar practices, which they severally 
deemed necessary to salvation. 



ANA 117 

1. The Adamites, for instance, believed a state of nudity es- 
sential to a future well-being ; and three hundred of these ma- 
niacs went up into a high mountain stark naked, with the silly 
persuasion that they would thence be translated, body and soul, 
into heaven.. 

2. The Apostolics — thought it essential literally to fulfil the 
precept of Je us Christ to his apostles, when he ordered them to 
preach from the top of houses. Accordingly, as often as they 
wished to exhort their audience to holiness of life, they very 
nimbly stationed themselves upon the ridge of some roof, and 
would have no other pulpit, whence to harangue the wondering 
croud. 

3. The Taciturn, on the other hand, were persuaded, that 
those unhappy times predicted by St Paul, were now come, when 
the gospel would be no longer heard : and, in consequence, ob- 
served the most obstinate silence, if interrogated concerning re- 
ligion, or — what course was to be pursued in these times of dif- 
ficulty. 

4. The Perfect — imagined that, to have an air of serenity or 
satisfaction, or in the least to smile, would be drawing upon ones- 
self that curse of Jesus Christ: — Wo to you that laugh, for you 
shall weep. They had retired from the society of men, in order 
to comply with the precept of not conforming to the xwrld. 

5. The Innocents or Impeccable — held, that after their 
new regeneration they could with ease preserve themselves from 
the smallest stain of sin, and that in fact they did live entirely 
exempt. Hence they retrenched from the Lord's Prayer the 
following petition — and forgive us our trespasses ,• and desired 
not the prayers of others in their own behalf. 

6. The Libertines — pretended, that every kind of subjection 
was contrary to the spirit of Christianity. 

7. The Sabbatarians taught, that the ancient Sabbath, 
which was Saturday and not Sunday, ought to be observed by 
christians. 

8. The Clancularians — maintained, that in public we ought 
to profess the same religious creed with our neighbours, and speak 
our real sentiments only in private. 

9. The Manifestarians — adopted exactly the reverse of this 
doctrine. 

10. The Weepers — fancied that continual tears were most 
pleasing to God, and turned all their efforts towards obtaining 
the art of weeping : they always mingled their tears with their 
bread, and were never without sighs and groans in conversation. 

11. The Rejoicers — on the contrary, laid it down as a prin- 
ciple, that merriment and good cheer were the most agreeable 
offering that could be made to Almighty God. 

12. The Indifferent — had not finally embraced any parti- 
cular system of religion, and thought all religions equally good. 



118 a:nt 

13. The Sanguinarians — wished for nothing so ardently, as 
the shedding of the blood both of catholics and protestants. 

14. The Antimarians — refused to render any kind of religi- 
ous veneration to the blessed Virgin Mary. — See Hist. Menno- 
nitarum, Descript. d' Amsterdam ; Catrou, Hist, des Anabap. 
in — 12 sur d'excellens memoires a Amsterdam. Kromayer, in 
Scrutinio Religionum Pantheon Anabaptisticum et Enthusiasti- 
cum 1702 in Fol. The German theologians are very copious 
upon this subject. (See their account rn Stockman, Lexic. 
Hseres.) 

Andronicians,— so named from their author Andronicus 
who adopted the errors of the Severians. Among other reve- 
ries, they maintained, that the superior part of the female was 
the work of God, but that the rest was the production of the 
devil. (Epipfr, Hser. 45. See the article Severians.) 

Angelics — were a sect of the apostolic age. Of them the 
apostle St Paul seems to speak in his epistle to the Colossians, 
2. v. 18, Let no man seduce you, rendering, out of a false humility 9 
a superstitious worship unto angels, like the infidel philosophers 
who honored their genii (or angels) as inferior divinities ; ima- 
gining that God was too great to be addressed by men. Some 
christians, agreeably to these pagan notions, deemed the medi- 
atorship of the angels more, powerful with God, and better cal- 
culated to reconcile man with his dffended Maker, than even 
that of Jesus Christ. (See Theodoret, Theophilact. Menoch. 
S. Chrys. Horn. 7. Col. 2. Stockman, Lexic. &c.) The sect 
was in being during the reign of Severus, and down to the year 
357 or 367, when Theodoret remarks, that the worship of an- 
gels which some false apostles had established in Phrygia and 
Pisidia, had there taken so deep root, that the council of Laodi- 
cea expressly forbade christians to address any prayer to the an- 
gels. This, however, is not altogether accurate ; for the council 
says only, that " Christians must not abandon the church of 
God, to go to invoke the angels, and frequent private conventi- 
cles." (Calmet, Comment, sur St Paul, Ep. aux Col. 2. 18 and 
dissert, sur les bons et les mauvais Anges.) 

Anomtans — taught that the Son and the Holy Ghost were in 
all things unlike the Father. From this circumstance is derived 
their name which in the Greek tongue signifies unlike. See the 
article Eunomians. 

Anthiaststs — deemed it criminal to labor, and passed their life 
in indolence and inaction. Philastrius, who mentions these sec- 
taries, could not ascertain the period of their existence. 



ANT m 

Anthropomorphites or Anthropians,— fancied that God 
had a human body. They grounded their opinion upon a pas- 
sage in the book of Genesis, in which God says — Come let us 
make man to our own image and likeness ; also upon all the other 
passages of holy writ which attribute hands, eyes, feet and other 
human parts, to Almighty God. (Nicephorus, 1. 11, c. 14, 1. 1-3, 
c. 1 0, Ittig. de Haer.) This heresy began to show itself as early 
as the fourth age, and re-appeared at the commencement of the 
tenth. The tenth century, branded with great reason for its 
peculiar ignorance and stupidity, was incapable of producing any 
errors but such as this. Men's intellects were too dull to con- 
ceive any thing which could not be represented under corporeal 
forms. Angels were supposed to be in fact — men with wings, 
as seen in paintings on the walls of churches ; and the more ig- 
norant sort imagined, that every thing passed in much the same 
way above, as here below. Some believed that St Michael cele- 
brated mass in the presence of the divine Majesty every Mon- 
day ; and on that account, they frequented his church on this 
day rather than on any other. (Hist. Literaire de France, L 5, 
p. 10.) 

Antimarianites, or Antidicomarianites — a name given to 
those who denied the virginity of the mother of our Blessed Re- 
deemer, and pretended that she had other children by Joseph, 
because it is said in the gospel, that Jesus Christ had some bre- 
thren. (See Helvidius. Epiph. Haer. 78.) 

Antinomians — a term importing — enemies of the law. See 
Agricola, their first author. 

Antiochianism, or the schism of Antioch — continued up- 
wards of eighty years. Its origin was as follows : — The Arians 
having expelled Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, intruded Eti- 
doxius into his see. Eudoxius was a bigotted Arian ; and num- 
bers of zealous catholics still adhered to Eustathius. After his 
death, upon Eudoxius's being translated to Constantinople, 
much party-work and intrigue ensued at Antioch in the nomina- 
tion of a new bishop ; till all at length agreed to raise Meletius to 
the episcopal dignity. Meletius, in his sermons, reprobated 
Arianism, and was banished in consequence. The Arians then 
chose Euzoius, a furious stickler of their party ; and those ca- 
tholics who were attached to Meletius, from that period began 
to hold their assemblies apart. Thus was Antioch divided into 
three distinct parties ; that of the catholics who acknowledged 
Eustathius for their lawful pastor, and refused to communicate 
either with the Arians, or with the catholics attached to Mele- 
tius; because they considered him as intruded by the Arian 
faction : the second party consisted of the latter description of 



120 ANT 

catholics ; and the third was that of the Arians. On the ac- 
cession of Julian the apostate to the empire, the exiled catholic 
prelates were suffered to return from banishment ; and Lucifer 
of Cagliari, one of that number, and legate to the pope, taking 
Antioch in his way, ordained Paulinus bishop j conceiving, 
that the catholics attached to Meletius would readily join them- 
selves to Paulinus. He was disappointed of his expectations ; 
and the schism was perpetuated — though without any real 
difference in doctrinal points, till the year 339. 

The Antitact^:— were heretics who deemed it a part of 
duty to practise whatever was prohibited in holy scripture. 
They were a branch of Cainites, and made their first appear- 
ance about the year 160. Their morality was of a piece with 
their impious and abandoned principles. (See Cainites. 
Thedoret, Haer. 1. 1. c. 16. Ittigius de Haer. sect. 2, c. 16. 
Bibl. Aut. Eccles. saec. 2, art. 6.) 

Antitrinitarians — are all those, in globo, who deny the 
mystery of the most Blessed Trinity. 

Revelation informs us, that there are three divine per- 
sons, — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, — existing in 
one divine substance. In this consists the mystery of the 
Blessed Trinity. The union of the three persons in one only 
individual substance, simple and uncompounded, includes the 
whole difficulty of this mystery. The mystery itself is denied 
two ways ; — either by supposing that the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, are not three persons, but different names on- 
ly, given to the self-same thing ; — or, by supposing that these 
three persons are three distinct substances. The 1 abbot Joa- 
chim ; some Socinian ministers ; Sherlock, Whiston, and 
Clark, imagined it equally impossible, not to recognise in the 
sacred writings — the existence of three divine persons, and to 
unite them in one simple, and individual substance. Hence they 
erroneously concluded the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, to be three distinct substances. Sabellius, on the other 
hand, and Praxeas, with Servetus and Socinus, maintained it 
inconsistent with reason and revelation, to suppose the existence 
of a plurality of substances in the Godhead, or to unite in one 
simple substance — three persons essentially distinct. This false 
idea led them to deduce an inference equally erroneous : — that 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, were not persons, 
but mere denominations attributed to the divinity, in order to 
characterise its various operations ad extra. Hence the Anti- 
trinitarians are of two kinds ; — the Tritheists, who contend 
that the three divine persons are so many distinct substances ; 
and the Unitarians, who maintain that the three persons are 



APE 121 

merely different denominations of the same divine substance. 
The brevity which we have prescribed to ourselves in this small 
treatise, will not allow us to enter into the intricacies of theologi- 
cal discussion concerning this incomprehensible mystery of the 
christian religion, handed down to us from the primitive ages of 
the church as a fundamental article of faith. (See Arians and 
Macedonians.) We will beg leave only to observe, that the 
church has invariably condemned — both those who believed the 
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, to be merely three differ- 
ent denominations of the divine substance ;— and those who 
maintained them to be three distinct substances. Whence 
it plainly follows, that the church has always maintained the 
doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, as we do at this day. Catholic 
divines have' solidly refuted the Socinian objections against this 
mystery. Among others, the great Bossuet and Petavius may 
be read with satisfaction upon the subject. Our English theolo- 
gians too, have many of them eminently distinguished themselves 
in the defence of this grand point of christian doctrine. (See 
particularly Isaaci Barrow opuscula.) 

The author of the Letters upon what he conceives Essential 
in Religion is pleased to contradict all christian antiquity, when 
he pretends that the words — Trinity and Persons — ought to be 
suppressed, and declares, he looks upon this dogma as perfectly 
superfluous. Had he been better acquainted with the history of 
the christian religion and its essence, he would have thought far 
otherwise. The whole economy of the christian religion sup- 
poses this mystery ; and the christian cannot know what he 
owes to God, if he does not know how the three persons of the 
Blessed Trinity concur in effecting his salvation. Consequently, 
this mystery was revealed to us — not to be the object of our 
speculations, — but to impress upon our mind more forcibly 
some idea of the love of God for man. And can such an im- 
pression — impelling us to fulfil the duties of religion, — be deemed 
superfluous ? 

Apelles — was a disciple of the heretic Marcion, towards the 
middle of the second century. In opposition, however, to his 
master's doctrine of two principles, he by a kind of instinct — 
for which he acknowledges himself unable to account — admitted 
only one. This he conceived to be an eternal and necessary 
Being. To explain the origin of evil consistently with the ideas 
which he had formed to himself, he imagined, that this divine 
Being was totally indifferent with regard to what passed among 
men ; that he had created a multitude of angels, and among the 
rest, one whom Apelles denominated an Angel of Fire. The 
latter, he supposed, had created our sublunary world upon the 
model of a higher and more perfect one. But as this Creator 
happened to be himself not very good, it happened also very 

2 



122 A P O 

naturally, that the world which -he produced was not much 
better. He acknowledged that Jesus Christ was son of the 
supreme God, and that he descended from heaven in these 
latter times together with the Holy Ghost, to save those that 
should believe in him, and to instruct them in the knowledge of 
heavenly things ; as well as to teach them to despise the Creator 
and all his works. Thus, the doctrine of Apelles had some 
affinity with that of Marcion. But he did not hold with him, 
that Christ had assumed a mere phantastic body. However, in 
order to make him independent of the Creator, he pretended 
that Jesus Christ had formed unto himself a body composed of 
parts, which he had borrowed from each of the celestial regions 
through which he passed in his descent upon earth ; and that on 
his return to the upper world, he had restored to each of the 
heavens what had been taken thence. Against the absurd 
errors of Apelles, Tertullian wrote a learned book which is 
not now extant. Rhodo likewise refuted his system. At the 
same time he informs us,, how he could not help holding in 
contempt — a person, who was unable to allege any proof of his 
own doctrine ; there being nothing more ridiculous than one 
who wishes to commence teacher of other men, while himself is 
at a loss how to account for his own eccentric opinions. (Rhodo 
apud Euseb. 1. 5, c. 13. Epiph. Hasr. 44. Aug. Haer. 23. 
Tert. de Prescript, c. 30, 31. Baron, ad an. 146.) 

Apellites — were the sectarists of Apelles. See last article. 

Aphthartodoct^ — disciples of Julian of Halicarnassus, who 
pretended that our Redeemer's body was incapable of suffering, 
and incorruptible: they appeared about the year 365. (Niceph. 
1. 17, c. 29. Damascen.) 

Apollinaris — bishop of Laodicea, after having been one of 
the most zealous defenders of the consubstantiality of the Son of 
God, which he had proved against the Arians by an infinite 
number of passages in holy scripture ascribing to Jesus Christ 
all the attributes of the divinity, — denied that he had any hu- 
man soul, and imagined that the divinity had supplied its place. 
But, observing that our Blessed Redeemer had experienced 
within himself impressions which could not apply immediately to 
the divinity, he fancied, that Christ must have had a sensitive 
soul — agreeably to the Pythagorean system which supposes in 
man a rational soul, or a pure intelligence not subject to the 
tumult of the passions j and another, incapable of reason, and 
merely sensitive. 

It is very easy to refute this error ; for holy scripture plainly 
teaches, that Jesus Christ was man 5 and that he became like to 
men— in all things saving only sin. (Heb. 4. 15.) It informs 



A P O 123 

us, that in his childhood he increased in wisdom as he advanced 
in age. (Luc ii. 40.) This must be understood, necessarily, of 
his rational soul : the divinity could not receive any accession of 
wisdom ; — nor could a soul merely sensitive, acquire new lights. 
Although this is self-evident, Mr Whiston chose to err with 
Apollinaris ; and asserts that the divinity itself suffered. He 
affects to recommend his strange opinion to all christians, and 
pretends it was the doctrine of the fathers who flourished since 
the council of Nice. But he does not appear to have made 
many proselytes. 

Apollinaris was in universal estimation as one of the first cha- 
racters of his age, in learning, erudition and piety. Hence we 
should be very diffident of our own lights, and very tender with 
regard to the religious errors of our fellow-creatures; since 
neither science, nor genius, nor piety itself secures us against 
mistakes. 

Apollinaris flourished about the close of the fourth age, under 
Julian. His heresy was first condemned in the council of Alex- 
andria, held in the year 362 under St Athanasius — after the 
death of Constantius : it proscribed the heresy ; but did not 
name its author. Pope Damasus also condemned the doctrine 
of Apollinaris, and afterwards proceeded to his deposition. His 
sentiments were again examined and anathematized by the se- 
cond general council at Constantinople. They were refuted by 
St Athanasius, the two SS Gregories — of Nazianzum and Nyssa, 
Theodoret, and St Ambrose. 

Apgllinarists — the sectaries of Apollinaris. See last article. 

Apostolics — a branch of the ancient Encratites, who boast- 
ed their perfect imitation of the apostles. Those petty sects of 
reformers in the twelfth century, who dispersed themselves over 
the different provinces of France, were likewise denominated 
Apostolics. See the articles Albigenses and Waldenses. 

These latter sects maintained respectively — errors absolutely 
irreconcileable with each other, and often adopted contradictory 
practices. They were all condemned in various councils assem- 
bled in order to suppress their errors ; which they maintained 
with such determined obstinacy, under the severest hardships, 
that Ervin was at a loss to account — how the members of Satan 
should exhibit as striking instances of constancy in so bad a 
cause, as the faithful had done in dying for the truth. 

The sect of the Apostolics was renewed by a person from the 
very dregs of the people named Segarel, who to imitate, as he 
pretended, our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, caused himself to 
be swathed, rocked in a cradle, and suckled at the breast ! He 
was attended by troops of idle vagabonds, who had all things 
even to their wives, in common. The ptmisninen of their 

8 2 



124 A R I 

leader did not extinguish this absurd and immoral sect. Some 
Anabaptists also, went by the name of Apostolics. See Ana- 
baptists. 

Apotactics— -a species of Encratites or Tatians, who to the 
common errors of the Encratites added the necessity of renoun- 
cing, absolutely — all worldly possessions, and maintained all to 
be reprobates who retained them. Some of these sectaries were 
in existence towards the decline of the second century, in Cilicia 
and Paraphilia. See the foregoing articles. 

Aquatics — were heretics who imagined, that water was a 
principle coeternal with God himself; — a doctrine which Her- 
mogenes had advanced with respect to matter in general, in 
order to supply the Creator of this visible world with materials 
for its formation. His disciples had proceeded to investigate 
the nature of this primeval matter ; and, it would seem, they 
had adopted the system of Thales who imagined water to be 
the principle of all things. Thus was human wit, after having 
raised itself by the aid of religion above the fanciful speculations 
of the ancient philosophers^ reconducted to those senseless the- 
orisms once relinquished as untenable, — through a vain and 
restless curiosity of prying too minutely into things beyond its 
sphere. See Stockman's Lexicon, upon the article in ques- 
tion. 

Ara — a sectarist who pretended, that Christ himself was not 
exempt from the stain of original sin. (Eus. Hist. 1. 6, c. 37. 
Aug. de Hssres. c. 38. Niceph. Hist. 1. 5, c. 23.) 

Arabians — the denomination of a sect which in the third age 
combated the immortality of the soul. They did not, however, 
deny the existence of a future state : they asserted only, that the 
soul died together with the body, and with it would rise again to 
life. Upon this subject was convoked a numerous synod in 
Arabia, at which the famous Origen assisted : he spoke on this 
occasion with so much moderation and sober reasoning, that those 
who had embraced the erroneous doctrine of the sect, renounced 
it upon the spot. 

Arians — the followers of Arius who, at the commencement 
of the fourth age, denied the divinity of Jesus Christ ; adding 
that the Son was a creature, and made out of nothing ; that 
there was a time when he did not exist ; and that he was capable 
of sin, — with other similar impieties. Arius was a curate of 
Alexandria, and engaged in his errors two other curates of the 
city, twelve deacons, seven priests, and two Lybian bishops. 
The holy patriarch St Alexander, after using in vain the mildest 



A R I 225 

expostulations and the most tender remonstrances in order to 
reclaim him, called a council at Alexandria, in which Arius 
boldly maintained his errors. The fathers proceeded to refute 
these principles, and to pronounce their canonical condemnation. 
" If, say they, the Word be a creature, he has then the imper- 
fections of a creature ; he is subject to all its several vicissitudes, — 
is not all-powerful: his knowledge is circumscribed ; for these 
imperfections are appendages essential to the creature, however 
perfect we may suppose it to be." The consequences were too 
obvious for Arius to mistake them. The council proved the 
falsehood of his doctrine from the various passages of Holy 
Scripture which ascribe to the Word immutability and omni- 
science, and those which expressly declare, that by Him and for 
Him all things were made, and that — without Him, nothing 
that hath existence was created. To the evidence of these proofs 
from Holy Scripture, the fathers of the council added the con- 
sentient doctrine of the universal church, which had invariably 
taught the divinity of the Word, and retrenched from its com- 
munion those that controverted it. The council defined accord- 
ingly, — that the Word was God, and co-eternal with the Father : 
it reprobated the doctrine of Arius, and anathematized his person. 
Arius found means by artful and insinuating letters to interest 
some prelates in his favor, and continued to disseminate his 
blasphemous opinions. His stature was majestic, his body mea- 
gre, and his countenance seriously reserved. Grave in his deport- 
ment, strictly clerical in his dress, he notwithstanding, possessed 
the art of pleasing in conversation, and excelled in poetry and 
music. He composed spiritual canticles for the labouring poor 
and devotees, and thus effectually spread the poison of Irs heresy 
among the people. By the same method had Valentin us and 
Armonius propagated their blasphemies before him ; and it has 
often been adopted with success by sectaries of the present day. 
(See Ernesti Cypriani dissert, de Propagatione Haeresium per 
Cantilenas, Lond. 1720. in-8.) 

The holy bishop Alexander was indefatigable in writing to 
prevent the spread of Arius's doctrine, and to admonish the faith- 
ful of its pernicious tendency. At this period the Roman empire 
was in the hands of Constantine, who ordered a general assem- 
bly of the bishops dispersed throughout his vast domains to re- 
examine Arius's cause, and to pass their final decision at Nice, 
in the year of our Lord 325. This venerable synod condemned 
the Arian system, and refuted Arius's impious opinions, while 
Constantine issued a decree of banishment against those who 
should refuse to subscribe the doctrine of the council. Here the' 
spirit of innovation should have paused, had the pride of dog- 
matising known how to bend to legitimate authority. That 
church which Christ had commanded all to hear and to obey, 
now solemnly discarded error, and pointed out the truth. The 
Arian party, intimidated by the imperial decrees, pretended 



126 A R I 

acquiescence, and used all the mean artifices of dissimulation, 
flattery and intrigue, — to surprise the emperor, if possible, into 
an approbation of their impieties. They succeeded but too well — 
in making him believe them men of virtue and orthodox in their 
sentiments, although they had a difficulty in subscribing to the 
consubstantiality of the Son of God. After Constantine's decease, 
they found means to engage Constantius in their errors ; and, 
under him and the succeeding emperors — to the period when 
Theodosius the Great was associated in the empire, all things 
remained m the utmost confusion in the East ; and during the 
most considerable part of this term, Arianism filled the provinces 
with tumult, and the towns with slaughter : after which, it 
dwindled into insignificance, and gradually disappeared. From 
the close of the fourth century there was not to be found one so- 
litary individual Arian bishop, or private church in the whole 
extent of the Roman empire. Socrates, Sozomen and Theodo- 
ret attest this fact. Some few ecclesiastics and laymen, however, 
still continued in a private capacity to maintain the doctrine of 
Arius ; but they no longer formed a distinct society. 

Arianism survived till a later period among the Goths, whom 
it had begun to implicate in its errors before the death of Con- 
stantine ; likewise among the Vandals who conquered Africa, 
and the Burgundians who received them from the Goths. This 
people shewed not less zeal in propagating the Arian tenets, than 
in extending the limits of their empire. They put to death the 
greatest part of the catholic bishops, and employed against their 
religion whatever a wild fanaticism could suggest — to barbarians 
devoid alike of humanity and justice. (Sidonius, 1. 7. Ep. 6. ed. 
Simond. p. 1023.) 

The Burgundians who had settled in Gaul towards the com- 
mencement of the fifth century, and had a few years after re- 
ceived a tincture of the catholic faith, about the middle of the 
same century inclined to Arianism. But being of a less feroci- 
ous disposition than the Goths, they listened to the wise instruc- 
tions of certain learned and virtuous prelates ; as was, for instance, 
St Avitus ; by whom King Sigismond was reclaimed, and the 
whole Burgundian nation was restored to the catholic com- 
munion. (Adonis Chronic, t. 6, Bib. Patrum.) 

The Francs too, had been engaged in Arianism upon their 
quitting idol-worship ; for the distance between idolatry and 
Arianism is not so great, as from heathenism to the doctrine of 
the consubstantiality of the Son of God. But when Clovis em- 
braced the catholic faith, Arianism insensibly vanished out of 
France. It has been renewed in these latter times, issuing forth 
from the womb of fanaticism, made prolific by the boasted re- 
formation. A certain Anabaptist preacher denied the divinity 
of Jesus Christ, and humourously conceived himself to be 
grandson to the Almighty. This visionary and maniac had his 



A R I 127 

disciples, as well as the rest of the reforming prophets ; and the 
principles of Protestantism quickly conducted its theologians 
into the errors of the Arian system. Scripture, according to 
the Protestant principle, is the sole rule of faith, and each pri- 
vate individual is its interpreter. Consequently, he is judge 
also, of the controversies appertaining to religion. By this fun- 
damental maxim of the reform, each particular protestant was 
constituted eventualry — -judge of the catholic church, and even of 
the reformation itself; had the privilege of arraigning before his 
own tribunal, and of condemning, if he deemed fit, — the whole 
doctrine of every christian community, unless he should recog- 
nise in it the characters of revelation, or should he fancy it absurd. 
Guided by such fallacious principles, Capito, with other Lu- 
therans, and Servetus, respectively proceeded to discuss in their 
private capacity, and without appeal, — the profoundest mys- 
teries of religion ; rejected that of the most Holy Trinity, and 
controverted the consubstantiality of the Son. Thus was 
Arianism spread through Germany and Poland, — divided into a 
vast number of collateral branches, — propagated over Holland, 
and wafted into our island through the medium of Okinus, Bu- 
cer, Peter Martyr, and other champions of Protestantism, 
These the Duke of Somerset, guardian to Edward VI. had in- 
vited over — to establish amongst us the doctrine of Zuinglius. 
But Bucer and Okinus, who preached Zuinglianism in public, 
in their private conversation and more familiar intercourse with 
friends— adopted Arianism. Some of their disciples, more 
zealous than their masters, or less discreet, publicly maintained 
their errors, and were condemned to the stake by the very lead- 
ing characters of the reformation in this land. 

After the demise of Edward VI. queen Mary issued an order to 
compel all foreigners to leave the kingdom. More than thirty 
thousand strangers, infected with a variety of different heresies, 
embarked on this occasion ; but they left behind the germs of 
heterodoxy, and the leaven of Arianism. Every interest, not 
to say — the vices and the passions of men, were now divided ex- 
clusively between the catholic and the protestant cause: the 
Arians were comparatively neglected. Protestants alone en- 
grossed, henceforward, nearly the whole of Mary's attention ; 
and Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, who had caused the 
Arians to be burnt at Smithfield, was in his turn himself devot- 
ed to the faggot. 

Elizabeth exchanged the old religion for Protestantism ; but, 
apprehending for the public tranquillity, she caused the Anabap- 
tists, the Arians, and enthusiasts to be expelled the nation. 

James I. who affected theological fame, took up his pen 
against these sects ; and all those whom his reasoning did not 
convince, however dignified by birth or meritorious services, he 
meekly consigned to the flames. This excessive rigorism gave 



128 A R I 

martyrs to the Arian cause, and multipled the sect. (Hist. Eng; 
by Thoiras. Rymer's Acts, &c.) 

The tumults and reverses of the civil wars which desolated 
England under Charles I. procured for the different sects a con- 
siderable respite. After the death of that unfortunate monarch 
the parliament consisted only of the house of commons, com- 
posed of a very inconsiderable number of members, — all of them 
Independants, Anabaptists, or other sectarians, among whom 
the Independants maintained the lead. The Independants wish- 
ed to establish a republican government, and to make each 
church independent of any other, and consequently, of the 
church of England itself ; while all should be permitted to adopt 
what form of church-government they deemed most convenient 
for themselves. 

Consequently to this system of religious independence recom- 
mended in -parliament, a certain person undertook to set forth a 
catechism which contained the Arian doctrine, and alarmed the 
zeal of protestants. They carried their complaints to the pro- 
tector Cromwell, who, notwithstanding the resolution lately 
passed to tolerate all sectaries, caused the author of the catechism 
to be laid in irons, and suffered him to perish under the hard- 
ships of his confinement. He did not however, proceed any 
farther to molest the Arians, who remained in peace under 
Charles II. and James II. Though proscribed by the church of 
England as heretics, they now profess undisturbed — their hetero- 
dox opinions. 

Arianism has had its champions, as well in modern as in an- 
cient times ; and many of our countrymen have displayed their 
controversial abilities both on the side of truth and in support of 
error. Each claims, exclusively, the victory : whose then is it 
authoritatively to decide — if this be not the privilege of the 
church of Christ? Private spirit, we see, is equally divided be- 
tween the contending parties ; either therefore, there is an au- 
thority residing in the true church paramount to all human ex- 
ception, or Christ has left his church in anarchy, and the faith- 
ful to eternal wrangling — tossed to and fro with every wind of 
doctrine, and without the possibility of ever knowing whereon to 
rest their faith ! " Independently, however, of ecclesiastic autho- 
rity and the consent of all the ancient fathers professing with one 
accord — the consubstantiality of the Son of God, — the glory of 
his divinity, one would think, is clearly manifested in the divine 
character and spirit of his ministry. Religion, properly speaking, 
is nothing else but a divine light which discovers the Deity to 
man, and determines the obligations which we have to God. 
Whether the Most High reveals himself in person to mankind, 
or fills with his spirit extraordinary characters his representa- 
tives, he has in view the sanctification and glory of his name, and 
the establishment of a worship by means of which he receives 



A R I 129 

the homage due to himself alone. But if the Lord Jesus, who 
at the time appointed by the decrees of heaven made his appear- 
ance among mortals, was only the most dignified among crea- 
tures, and ambassador on the part of God to men, the direct 
tendency of his ministry, on this supposition, must have been no 
other, than to render mankind idolaters, and to deprive the Di- 
vinity of that glory which is exclusively His due, in order to trans- 
fer it to himself: God himself would thus become the author of 
men's superstition in adoring an imaginary divinity, and the 
spirit of Christ's ministry must prove the snare of our innocence. 
The first striking character of the ministry of Jesus Christ is — 
its having been predicted, and promised to mankind, from the 
beginning of the world. Scarcely had Adam fallen from the 
state of innocence, when God held out to him a Redeemer who 
was to come in after ages. In the sequel, Almighty God ap- 
pears ever attentive to excite men more and more to expect his 
coming. The circumstances which characterised the predictions 
relative to him, were still more wonderful than the predictions 
themselves. He was foretold by a whole nation ; announced to 
the world by a long succession of prophets ; prefigured by all the 
ceremonies of the law ; earnestly desired by all the just. He 
was pointed out in every age at the remotest periods of time, — 
not as the author of some particular event only, but in quality of 
the Redeemer of lost man, the legislator of innumerable people, 
the light of nations, the salvation of Israel. What a stumbling 
block must this have proved to religion in every age, if such mag- 
nificent preparatives denoted nothing more than a simple crea- 
ture ; and all this too, at periods when the undiscerning credu- 
lity of the multitude so easily ranked extraordinary characters in 
the number of its divinities ? Observe how St John the Baptist, 
to prevent every the most distant occasion of undue veneration 
to his own person — in consequence of his having been but once 
foretold, — performs no miracle, and ceases not however, to ex- 
claim : — I am not he whom you are to expect. Jesus, on the 
contrary, who had been announced by all the prophetic figures 
and predictions of the ancients during the lapse of four thousand 
years — to all the nations of the earth, comes in great virtue and 
power, and performs such astonishing miracles, as no mortal 
man had ever wrought before him. Far from cautioning the 
people against superstition in their too high opinion of Him, 
he proclaims himself aloud equal to the Almighty, and suffers 
them to offer him divine honors. If this then, was in fact ido- 
latry, — in such circumstances, was it not excusable ? or rather, 
did not God himself thus authorize the crime? — All the just of 
ancient times, — men so venerable for their sanctity, and illustri- 
ous for miracles, were but the shadow of the Lord Jesus : but, 
if we suppose Him a mere creature, where will be the striking 
difference between the shadow and the reality, at least in the 



130 A R I 

judgment of our senses ? — To the splendor of the prophecies 
which announced the coming of our blessed Redeemer, we must 
not forget to add that of his works and wonderful actions ; in 
which he far surpassed all former saints, who even in their mi- 
racles always exhibited marks of their dependence upon God. 
Jesus, on the contrary, in working the most extraordinary mi- 
racles, ordinarily acts in his own name, and — with an indepen- 
dence which bespeaks his own divine power : and when, for our 
instruction he seems to wait the concurrence of his heavenly 
Father, and solicits it by prayer, it is with a view only, of de- 
monstrating more sensibly to mankind the strict union which 
ever subsists between the Divine Persons ; — and in his office of 
Master and Instructor, to teach us how to act on all occasions, 
and to acknowledge by humble and perseverant prayer our abso- 
lute dependence upon God. 

The last divine character of our Saviour's ministry shines 
forth — in the wonderful and unprecedented circumstances of 
w r hich the whole course of his mortal life is one continued series. 
Conceived by the special operation of the Most High, he is 
born of a pure virgin ; and on his first appearance among mor- 
tals, the legions of celestial spirits commence their hymns of 
praise and jubilee, and inform us — that this divine birth renders 
unto God, his proper glory, and the long desired peace to men. 
A new and extraordinary star (or meteor) conducts to his hum- 
ble crib at Bethlehem religious princes from the remotest re- 
gions of the east — to adore him : prophecies announce his future 
greatness : the doctors of the law behold with astonishment his 
tender infancy — adorned with wisdom the most consummate, — 
more enlightened far, than all the experience and the learning of 
their ancient sages. In proportion as he advances in age, the glory 
of his wisdom is more and more displayed : — the great St John 
the Baptist proclaims himself unworthy to unloose the very latch- 
et of his shoe : — heaven opens over his head : — the evil spirits in 
dismay shrink from the terror of his presence : — the heavenly 
Father owns him to be his well beloved Son, and proposes him 
to man as the living and eternal law which he commands us all 
to hear and to obey. If from Mount Thabor we pass to Calvary 
— the place where the Son of Man was to suffer infamy and, tor- 
ments for man's offence, even Calvary itself becomes the theatre 
of his glory : all nature in disorder here avows him to be its Lord, 
and loudly confesses his divinity. Three days after he rises from 
the dead, — not by the power of any other, nor again to die, as 
has been the case of certain other men ; but by his own al- 
mighty power, and to a state of immortality. In a word, to 
complete his triumph over death, he ascends into heaven, borne 
on high — not by angels who come in crowds to meet him, and to 
adore in him their Sovereign Lord j — nor in a chariot of fire ;. 
but by the sole influence of his own divinity. On this occasion* 



A R I 1S1 

the heavenly spirits denounce to mortals his second coming, en- 
vironed with the glorious appendages of immortality. And do 
not all these striking circumstances, concurring in the person of 
Jesus Christ, clearly designate the God of heaven, who after 
having conversed with men to withdraw them from their errors 
and their misery, at length bids adieu to earth and mortals 
again to take possession of his glory ? Would not then the 
divine character of the ministry of Jesus tend effectually to make 
us all idolaters, if after all he were but a mortal man ? — Nor 
would the spirit of his ministry, by which we understand — his 
doctrine, his benefits, and his promises, — less conduce to lead 
us into error and superstition. In the first instance, it cannot 
be pretended, that Jesus was not a holy and untarnished cha- 
racter : for where shall we find so many, and such undoubted 
proofs of innocence and sanctity, as in the sacred person of our 
Lord ? — So much contempt and indifference for the things of 
the world ; — such love of virtue ; — so much zeal for the glory of 
God ; — so much ardor for the salvation of men : — add to all 
this — the total exemption from those weaknesses which are al- 
most inseparable from humanity. Now if Jesus Christ is holy, 
he is also God. For, whether we consider the doctrine which 
he delivers — with relation to his father, or with regard to men, — 
if he were not God, it would all be nothing but one unvaried 
tissue of the most malicious equivocations, or of impious im- 
plied blasphemies. If Christ be merely an ambassador from 
heaven, the object of his mission must be to teach the idola- 
trous nations the unity of the divine essence. But in the first 
instance, he is sent principally to the Jews ; and thus his mission 
is superfluous, since the Jews are at the very period no longer 
subject to idolatry. In the second place, he does not adopt a 
line of conduct calculated to attain his object. Moses and the 
prophets, charged with the same commission, cease not to re- 
peat that the Lord of all things is but one, without so much as 
insinuating the most distant comparison of themselves with the 
Supreme Being: Jesus, on the contrary, never ceases to de- 
clare that he is equal to the heavenly Father. He says he came 
down from heaven, and issued from the bosom of the Divinity ; 
that He was before all things ; that the Father and himself are 
one. On all occasons he compares himself with the sovereign 
Lord of all things. The Jews loudly murmur, and are highly 
scandalized at these expressions ; and Jesus, far from unde- 
ceiving, confirms them in the scandal — by a language which, 
if it could once be supposed, that in fact he was not equal with 
the Heavenly Father, must of necessity imply either impiety or 
insanity. His followers are by himself encouraged to offer him 
divine honors. If then — after all — he be no more than man, or 
a mere creature, he came upon earth only to scandalize the 
Jews, by giving them reason to believe that he compared him- 

r 2 



152 ARM 

self with the Most High ; — he came to seduce all nations, in 
causing them to adore him after death ; — and to spread fresh 
darkness, and disseminate new errors over the whole universe 1 
Let us now consider for a moment, the doctrine of Jesus 
Christ relative to men ; for it equally implies the truth of his 
divine origin. In the first place, what wisdom, what sanctity, 
what sublimity, does it not display ! Every article of this doc- 
trine consists with reason, and with the soundest maxims of 
philosophy : every thing is here proportioned both to the 
wretchedness, and to the dignity of man. Observe in the se- 
cond place, the duties of love and of absolute dependence which 
his doctrine exacts of mankind in his own regard. He com- 
mands us to love him ; to place in him our only happiness j to 
consecrate to him all our actions, together with our whole be- 
ing, in the same manner precisely, as he enjoins all these duties 
to be observed with reference to his Heavenly- Father. Where- 
fore, if he is not God, his doctrine — a doctrine so much ad- 
mired by the heathen sages, and which evidently bears the im- 
press of the divinity, must henceforward be esteemed no better 
than a horrible compound of impiety, of pride and extreme 
folly ; since being but a mere man, as self opinionated sectaries 
wish to persuade us, he studies, notwithstanding, to usurp in 
our hearts that throne which, exclusively, belongs to God. At 
such a consequence, even the Arian and the Socinian would 
recoil with horror. For the credit then of their consistency, 
let them with the orthodox believer acknowledge the divinity 
and the con substantiality of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; 
although it is a mystery exalted infinitely above human compre- 
hension. (Massil. Serm. on the Divinity of Christ.) See An- 

TITRINITARIANS. 

Armenians — a branch of Eutychians or Monophusites who 
rejected the council of Chalcedon, and joined the Jacobites about 
the middle of the sixth century. 

The christian religion had been planted in Armenia before 
the reign of Constantine, by Gregory surnamed the Illuminator ; 
and continued in its purity till the days of the patriarch Narses, 
who at the period above mentioned, in a council of ten bishops, 
adopted the Eutychian heresy, — perhaps more with a view to in- 
gratiate himself with the Persians, whose interest it was to sow 
the seeds of division between the Romans and Armenians, — than 
through any partiality to the doctrine itself. (Asseman. Bib. 
Orient, t. 3. Oriens Christianus, t. 1.) Thus commenced a 
schism which continued under the seven succeeding patriarchs 
one hundred and twelve years. After the defeat of the Persians 
by the emperor Heraclius, the Armenians who had suffered 
much under their tyrannical government, seemed disposed to re- 
turn to the communion of the catholic church. A council was 
accordingly convened, in which what Narses had done was dis- 



ARM 133 

avowed and declared of no effect : and the people were re-ad- 
mitted into the pale of the church. This reunion lasted some- 
thing longer than one hundred years, when the schism was re- 
newed at the commencement of the eighth century, by the intri- 
guing and ambitious patriarch John Agnensis, at the requisition 
of the Saracen calif Omar. In a synod composed of a few Arme- 
nian, and six Assyrian bishops, he caused a definition to be signed, 
importing that in Jesus Christ there was only one nature, one 
will and operation. Thus, to Monophysism they added the 
equally erroneous doctrine of Monothelism ; and in the same 
council it was ordained, that henceforward no water should be 
used in the sacred mysteries, for fear of insinuating two natures 
in Jesus Christ by the accustomed mixture of water with the 
wine. 

The schism thus renewed — subsisted till the close of the ninth 
century ; though some of the patriarchs had attempted a reunion, 
and suffered banishment in the cause. At length, after various 
unsuccessful endeavours to effect a reconciliation, a council was 
convoked at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and de- 
creed that the Son of God was endowed with two natures and 
two distinct wills, the Divine and human. At this council were 
present twenty-six bishops, ten doctors of theology, and seven 
abbots. The schismatics protested against the synodical decrees ; 
and king Hayton and Leo his son, who wished to facilitate the 
reunion, were assassinated. Another synod was ordered to con- 
vene, by which all that the preceding council had ordained was 
sanctioned and confirmed. The Monophusites, notwithstand- 
ing, remained obstinate, and took every occasion to insult the 
catholics, and in many instances to persecute them. 

Some years after the convention of this synod, Oscin II, died, 
and the schismatics again took the lead. Since this period several 
patriarchs have signified their desire of a reunion with the Roman 
catholic church, but were never able to induce the nation to se- 
cond so laudable a project. Many schismatics, however, have 
been converted by the missionaries; who still zealously and with 
considerable success contribute their labor towards effecting a 
union of the Armenian people with the catholic church. (See 
Le P. Lequien, Oriens Christianus.) The Armenians at present 
are partly catholic and partly schismatical. The catholics are 
chiefly those converted by father Barthelemy sent among them, 
with that intent by pope John XII. They inhabit a fertile can- 
ton of Armenia called Abrener. (De la Croix, la Turquie 
Chretienne.) 

The schismatical Armenians reject the council of Chalcedon, 
and admit but one will, one operation, and one nature in Christ. 
If we except these errors, they agree in doctrinal articles with 
the church of Rome ; they have the same sacraments, and differ 
only in ritual peculiarities. Some among them indeed, entertain 



134 A R M 

erroneous notions concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost, 
and the state of souls after death. Some moreover imagine, 
that the souls of men were all created at the beginning of the 
world ; that all without exception, righteous aud unrighteous, 
were by our Saviour Christ delivered out of hell ; and that there 
is no purgatory. But these are not the errors of the Armenian 
church, but of individuals only; and have been introduced 
among them by foreigners with whom they are in commerce. 
Nor were they ever noticed — as undoubtedly they must have 
been had they then existed, — when the reunion of the Armeni- 
ans with the Roman church was in contemplation. (See the 
Acts of the council of Armenia held in 1342, t. 7, Collect, du P. 
Martenne.) 

Moreover, the prayers, the canticles and most ancient hymns 
of the Armenian church flatly contradict these errors. In their 
rituals and books of prayer we find established the catholic prac- 
tice of praying for the dead, the invocation of saints, and vene- 
ration of their relics ; in a word, the whole religious creed of the 
Roman church, and the epoch of each doctrinal alteration which 
has been introduced in the church of Armenia, is distinctly 
marked. Consequently the church of Rome cannot be fairly 
charged with the innovations with which she is reproached by 
protestants, since we find her doctrines professed by a church 
totally independent of the Roman see ; nor is this conformity of 
doctrine the effect of commercial intercourse, as some would fain 
persuade the world ; since it is mentioned in rituals and litur- 
gies far more ancient than the commerce of the Armenians with 
the Latins. 

There are, however, besides the above errors, some abuses 
among the Armenians, and some traces of Judaical opinions. 
They observe the term prescribed by the Mosaical law for puri- 
fication after child-birth ; they scrupulously abstain from the 
flesh of animals which the law declared unclean, with the excep- 
tion of hog's flesh : — an exception for which they can assign no 
reason. Like the Jews they offer to God the sacrifice of beasts, 
which they immolate at the entrance of their churches by the 
ministry of the priests ; they dip their finger on these occasions 
in the blood of the victim, and with it form a cross upon the 
doors of their houses. The priest retains one half of the victim 
for his own use, while those that present it for the sacrifice con- 
sume the rest. These kinds of sacrifices they offer on all their 
solemn festivals, in order to obtain the cure of their diseases, or 
some other temporal benefits. Thus the Armenians, in order 
at once to enjoy the several advantages of the two covenants, 
join the practices of the Jewish law with the profession of 
Christianity. 

Arminius — was a native of Holland, born in 1560. He re- 



ARM 135 

ceived his education partly at the university of Leyden, and part- 
ly at Geneva, and was commissioned to write against the minis- 
ters of Delft, who combated the doctrine of Theodorus Beza, 
regarding predestination. In order to attempt their refutation 
with success, he applied himself diligently to examine their ar- 
guments, and eventually adopted those sentiments which he had 
undertaken to confute. Arminius could not comprehend — how 
Almighty God, according to the blasphemous assertions of Be- 
za and John Calvin, could predestine men to sin and damna- 
tion ; knowing him to be a just Judge and most tender Father. 
On the contrary, he maintained, it was the will of God that all 
mankind should renounce their sins, and persevere to the end 
in righteousness, after having first attained to the knowledge of 
the truth ; although, he said, each one was left to his own free 
choice, without either violence or compulsion : that the doctrine 
of Beza and Calvin necessarily made God the author of sin, and 
hardened men in their evil habits, by inspiring them with the 
conceit of inamissible justification. 

Gomar, professor of theology at Leyden, warmly espoused 
the predestinarian system ; and the two parties filled the United 
States with tumult and disorder. Arminius and his followers, 
in common with the rest of the reformers, rejected all infallible 
authority, which pretended to be the depository of revealed 
truths, and to fix the religious creed of christians : they deemed 
holy scripture exclusively, the sole rule of faith, and every 
private individual a competent judge of the scriptural sense. 
Hence they fell insensibly into the errors of the Pelagians and 
Semi-Pelagians regarding predestination. But they did not 
wish to obtrude their opinions upon others : they left them the 
liberty too, to interpret scripture their own way, and granted a 
general toleration to all christian societies — to honour God in the 
manner which they might think prescribed by the gospel. 

Under this view, it is plain, Arminianism can have no fixed 
symbol, no received formula of belief; excepting only what they 
admit as scripture, and the fundamental dogma of the reform ; 
namely, that each private individual is the natural judge of the 
sense of scripture. 

The Calvinists have written much against the Arminians, and 
accuse them of having fallen into the errors of Socinianism. 
This charge is not altogether void of foundation, whatever the 
Arminians may adduce to invalidate it. But their adversaries 
are equally exposed to the difficulties and the retorsions of the 
Arminians. To the Catholic alone appertains the exclusive pri- 
vilege of solidly refuting the Arminian, as well as his antago- 
nists, by shewing against both, that the church only, is compe- 
tent to interpret holy scripture in the last resort, and authori- 
tatively to define what Jesus Christ has in fact revealed. Can 
any remotely plausible pretext be possibly alleged — why private 



136 A R N 

individuals, rather than the church of God collectively in its 
pastors ; — those same pastors whom Christ commands us all to 
hear as his own and his heavenly Father's representatives, 
should preside as judges in controverted articles of faith ? This, 
however, is the bold pretension of all the separatists from ca- 
tholic communion. 

Arnold of Brescia — was a scholar of Peter Abelard. Re- 
turning into Italy his native country, he took there the monas- 
tic habit, and acquired a considerable reputation as a preacheiv 
His vanity increased with his reputation, and he sought to per- 
petuate his fame by some extraordinary enterprise. With this 
view, he began to inveigh against the monastic institute, and to 
rail intemperately against the clergy, priests and bishops. In 
his sermons he affirmed, they had no right to the possession of 
landed property ; and damned all those that were possessed of 
any. This doctrine was relished with avidity by the people. 
The clergy was alarmed ; and Innocent II. expelled the author 
out of Italy; who upon the first news of the pontiff's death, re- 
entered, and recommenced his seditious harangues. He ex- 
cited the populace, already predisposed, to mutiny against Eu- 
genius III. and proposed to the Romans the re-establishing of 
their ancient government, which, he observed, had made their 
ancestors masters of the universe. 

The people, seduced by the flattering prospect, insulted per- 
sons of eminence and the cardinals ; and proceeded to attack 
and plunder their palaces. Hereupon Pope Adrian IV. excom- 
municated Arnold of Brescia with his adherents, and laid the 
people under an interdict, till they should expel this seditious 
monk from Rome. Arnold was obliged to leave Rome accord- 
ingly, and retired into Tuscany, where the silly populace re- 
vered him as a prophet. He was afterwards arrested, conduct- 
ed back to Rome, and publicly executed — in the sight and with 
the approbation of those very people who, a little while before, 
had honoured him as something more than human. 

Arnold of Villeneuve— was born about the close of the 
thirteenth century. He excelled in the art of chemistry, and 
afterwards applied himself with much industry and success to the 
study of philosophy and medicine, which latter art he taught 
and practised at Paris with extraordinary reputation. His errors 
do not do him much credit as a theologian. Among other doctrinal 
eccentricities he taught 1. — That the human nature in Jesus 
Christ was in all respects equal to the Divinity. 2. — That all 
monks would be damned. 3. — That the world would end in 1335. 

Some protestants affect to number Arnold among their glori- 
ous precursors. His blunders certainly were not catholic* 






ART 137 

Why then obstinately contest with these gentlemen the honor 
which they claim ? 

The Arnoldists became a considerable sect in Spain. This 
age indeed, was an epoch peculiarly prolific in sectarism. We 
will instance in proof of this, the Beguardae, the Apostolics, the 
Frerots, the Lollards, without noticing a numerous spawn of 
subordinate sects which sprang up like mushrooms from these 
fertile roots. One degree more of civilization and religious light 
would have sufficed to make all these sectaries appear ridiculous, 
and have consigned them to merited oblivion. 

Arnold of Puicerda — was a native of Catalonia, who 
taught — that Jesus Christ and his apostles possessed nothing 
either personally, or in common ; — that none that wore the ha- 
bit of St Francis, would be damned ; — and that St Francis de- 
scended annually into purgatory, and thence withdrew all the 
patients of his order on his return to Paradise ; in a word, he 
fancied that the Franciscan institute would subsist to eternity. 
This man retracted his very whimsical conceptions before the 
tribunal of the inquisition ; but, relapsing into his former eccen- 
tricity, he was consigned to perpetual imprisonment. 

Artemon — denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, and taught 
the same errors as did Theodotus of Byzantium. (See his 
article.) 

Artoturites — a branch of Montanists, so called from their 
offering bread and cheese in their religious rites : they also ad- 
mitted females to the sacerdotal and episcopal functions, as Mon- 
tanus had associated to his pretended ministry of Prophet Pris- 
cilla and Maximilla. Whence the Artoturites concluded, that 
women might be promoted to clerical orders, as well as persons 
of the other sex. Their master had assumed the office of re- 
former ; and the disciples, as became them, had inherited his 
spirit. Every Montanist who had wit enough to devise some 
new method of honoring God, made it an essential article of his 
practice, and formed a distinct sect. Thus some among them, 
recollecting that the first inhabitants of the world, in their sacri- 
fices offered to Almighty God the fruits of the earth and the pro- 
ducts of their flocks, resolved to imitate their good old ancestors 
by offering bread and cheese. 

As the Montanists affected great austerity, the spirit of morti- 
fication and sorrow for having offended God, they deemed it a 
principal part of the ministry to excite such sentiments in the 
heart of christians, and thought the fair sex better qualified than 
men to facilitate the desired effect. " One might behold," says 
St Epiphanius, describing the peculiarities of this sect, " a pro- 
cession of seven damsels clad in white garments, .with each a 

s 



138 A T H 

burning torch in their hand, entering their churches in the ca- 
pacity of prophetesses. There they commenced their lamenta- 
tions ; deplored the misery of man ; and by their doleful cries 
disposed the people to a kind of penitence." (Epiph. Haer. 49. 
Aug. de Haer. c. 28.) See the article Montanus. 

Ascites — another sect of Montanists who placed near their 
altar a kind of foot-ball well blown up, and danced around it. 
This they regarded as an emblem of their being themselves re- 
plenished with the Holy Spirit, a privilege which every Monta- 
nist pretended to. See again the article Montanus. 

Ascophites — were a branch of Valentinians, who made their 
first appearance about the year 173. They rejected the Old Tes- 
tament, denied the necessity of good works, for which they en- 
tertained a marked contempt ; and pretended that nothing more 
was required in order to sanctification , than simply to know 
God. Out of the aversion which they had for the sacred obla- 
tions made in the true church, they deemed it meritorious to 
break in pieces the consecrated vessels destined for the service of 
the altar. (Theod. Haer. Fab. 1. 10, c. 10. Ittig. Haer. sect. 2. 
c. 14.) 

Atheist — one who affects to disbelieve the existence of a Di- 
vine Being, or the superintendence of a wise and all-equitable 
Providence, since, according to the very sensible remarks of 
Cicero against the Epicurean system, — a God without Provi- 
dence, properly speaking, is no God at all in regard of men. Of 
this description of Atheists, the number unfortunately, is but too 
considerable. Holy Scripture speaks of Atheists in general as 
follows, (Ps. 13. al. 12.) — The fool hath said in his heart 
there is no God. It is the language of men corrupted and abo~ 
minable. There is not one of them that doeth what is right. 
Their throat is an open sepidchre ; with their tongues they act de- 
ceitfully ; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is 
full of cursing, and of bitterness ; their feet are swift to shed 
blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways ; and the 
*soay of peace they have not known ; there is no fear of God before 
their eyes. 

The word of God here informs us, that Atheism is the growth 
of a corrupted heart. This truth many of our modern infidels 
themselves have been compelled to acknowledge ; and daily ex- 
perience confirms it. It is what was remarked in the book of 
Job (c. 21) above three thousand years ago. Depart from us 9 
exclaim the impious Epicures of those early times, depart from 
us ; we will ?wt receive the knowledge of thy ways. Who is the 
Almighty that we should serve Him ? And what doth it profit us 
if we pray to Him ? But, behold - 3 in a moment they shall go 



A U D 139 

-down to hell. — Their eyes shall see their own destruction ,• and 
they shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. Such will be the 
disastrous result of atheistical libertinism and impiety. If then 
you wish to avoid so dreadful a catastrophe, withdraw yourself 
in time from habits of licentiousness. It is these alone that first 
suggest — a wish that there was no providence to punish wicked 
actions : it is these that seek to stifle that conviction which the 
wonderful works of God are calculated to impress on every ra- 
tional mind, of his own existence ; and treacherously insinuate 
to the corrupted heart, that perhaps there is no God at all ; or 
at least, no future state of reward or punishment. For who can 
be so grossly stupid as not to recognise in the admirable order 
and mechanism of the universe, the hand of Him that formed 
it ? And if it was not beneath the dignity of the Supreme Being 
originally to form his creatures, how should, it be unworthy of 
Him to be their legislator, their protector, and their judge ? 
2. Abhor the dangerous society of all professed irreligionists. 
They will not fail to use every artifice to seduce you, and all the 
captious arguments which their malicious ingenuity can invent, 
or the wicked spirit that actuates them, can suggest, — in order to 
your utter ruin. 

Athocians — sectaries of the third century, who maintained, 
that the soul died together with the body, and that all sins were 
alike. (Cent. Magd. cent. 13, c. 5.) 

Audeus or Audius — was a native of Mesopotamia, noted for 
his impetuous zeal, and the ardour of his faith. He flourished 
about the middle of the fourth age. Priests and even bishops 
he reprehended with much harshness whenever either of the 
parties appeared to him — to betray a love of money, or to indulge 
in ease. His censoriousness and excessive insolence rendered 
him at length insupportable to every one ; and, of course, he 
was frequently affronted, and sometimes treated very roughly. 
His pride was hurt ; and he withdrew himself from the commu- 
nion of the church. 

That audacious freedom which is exerted in attacking supe- 
riors, has something in it that appears — to undiscerning and 
restless spirits — noble and magnanimous. Hence it is not sur- 
prising that Audeus should have had many abettors and asso- 
ciates in his schism. Among others, he was joined even by a 
bishop, who conferred upon him episcopal consecration. Au- 
deus now commenced author of a sect — the prominent character 
of which was an invincible aversion for every thing that looked 
like condescension, which they branded with the odious name 
of human respect. This was their motive for keeping Easter 
with the Jews; pretending that the council of Nice had altered 
the ancient practice of the church out of cpmplaisance to Con- 

s 2 



14G B A C 

stantine, whom they wished to flatter by causing the great so- 
lemnity of Easter to coincide with the anniversary day of his 
birth. (Eph. Haer. 70. Theodoret. Haer. Fab. 1. 4, c. 10.) 

As Audeus drew after him a multitude of the common people, 
the catholic bishops informed the emperor ; who banished him 
into Scythia. From the place of his exile he penetrated into the 
territories of the Goths, and there established some monasteries, 
the practice of virginity, and the rules of a solitary life ; which 
continued among them till, in the year 372, all descriptions of 
christians were expelled out of Gothia by the persecution of 
Athanaric. Audeus, as St Epiphanius seems to insinuate, did 
not survive till this period. His sect was governed after his 
decease by divers bishops of his own creation ; but these also 
dying off, the Audians found themselves reduced to inconsider- 
able numbers before the year 380. They lived in monasteries, 
or in country huts in the neighbourhood of some town ; had no 
intercourse of any kind with catholics, because, in their estima- 
tion, all catholics were either themselves vicious, or at least 
communicated with the vicious; and would not so much as 
speak to a catholic, however virtuous and saintly his demeanour. 
They even exchanged the name of christian for that of Audian, 
as Epiphanius and Theodoret assure us. 

Audeus, it would seem, at the commencement of his schism, 
had not fallen into any error against faith, since he no where is 
reproached for heterodox opinions. The Audians, however, 
afterwards attributed to the Deity a human form. (See Theo- 
doret, Haer. Fab. 1. 4, c. 9.) They also adopted some of the 
tenets of the Manichees ; holding with them, for instance, — 
that God did not create the elementary fire, nor water ; but 
that they existed independently of any first cause, and were 
eternal. It appears also, that these sectaries degenerated from 
their original austerity, and that they insensibly fell into scanda- 
lous immoralities. (Theod. ibid.) 



B 



Bacularians — were a sect of Anabaptists formed about the 
year 1528, and thus denominated, because, to the usual tenets 
of Anabaptism, they joined that of reputing it a crime to have 
any other weapon than a staff, or to repel force with force ; for, 
said they, Jesus Christ commands his followers meekly to pre- 
sent their cheek to those that strike them. The love of peace 
which Christ came to establish upon earth, ought, according to 
this pacific sect, to extinguish discord, and to put an end to all 



B A I 141 

litigate 'Xk. In fact, they deemed it inconsistent with the spirit 
of e ^p ^tianity to enter into any legal process. 
lj, r ius, in Germany, were found Anabaptists who quietly 
ered themselves to be despoiled of their possessions, and even 
. i life too, without resistance, while their brother Anabaptists 
esteemed it a divine thing violently to dispossess of their property 
all those that did not think as they did, and with fire and sword 
to spread desolation wherever people might not be disposed to 
embrace their doctrine. Such were the effects of the reforming 
principles. With what propriety then, can the pretended re- 
formation be held up to the world as a work of light — necessary 
for the discernment of the truth. If that truth, in the Roman 
church, lay involved in a cloud of darkness, what must we 
think of the private spirit of its adversaries, which could adopt 
in practice systems of religion diametrically opposite ? Is not 
this the spirit of confusion, and the very essence of religious 
absurdity ? 

Baius or Bay — was a native of the county of Haynault, 
taught philosophy at Lou vain, and proceeded doctor in 1550. 
The year following, he was appointed to deliver lectures upon 
holy scripture. Baius now formed the project of confining the 
study of theology principally to holy writ, and to the thorough 
knowledge of the ancient fathers, for whom innnovators seemed 
still to entertain some sentiments of veneration ; and resolved to 
adopt their method in handling points of controversy, in lieu of 
that of the schools for which protestants had no great relish. 
With this view, he studied with intense application the writings 
of St Augustine, and took him for his model ; esteeming this 
father of all others the most accurately luminous, on the subjects 
which he had treated. From the works of this enlightened 
father and doctor of the church concerning grace, Baius wished 
to collect materials for his new system of free-will —against the 
ancient Stoics, the Manichees, and the reformers of modern 
times ; Luther, Calvin, &c. His system was as follows : — 

God, according to Baius, in creating man, acted with per- 
fect liberty. Man himself he created a free agent ; and Adam 
sinned by an act of his own free will : consequently, he was not 
impelled by any law of destiny, as the ancient Stoics maintain- 
ed. 

Our first parent was originally in a state of justice, and of 
innocence adorned with every virtue : consequently human 
nature in its origin was not depraved, as was asserted by the 
Manichees. 

Adam, by his sin, lost that absolute control which he pre- 
viously had over his senses ; and he forfeited the grace which 
was necessary in order to his perseverance in righteousness. 
Therefore God was not the author of the sins of men, accord- 



142 B A I 

ing to the impious assertion of Luther and Calvin ; but man 
himself, said Baius, by placing his affections upon the cre^'n'e, 
and this through his own evil propensity and inclination. ^ r n 
this consisted the liberty of man, according to Baius, — thati 
was not influenced by any foreign cause ; his will was not cor/l 
pelled ; he sinned because he acted voluntarily ; he obeyed his 
own passion and not any foreign agent. This, in Baius's ideas, 
was all that was required to constitute free will. Besides, he 
observed, in things regarding the present life, man in every 
sense of the word, w r as free to choose and determine for him- 
self. Freewill, therefore, he concluded, is not extinct. (Lib. 
Arbitr. c. 11.) 

Baius, it is true, acknowledges that catholic divines who 
before him had undertaken to refute heresy, had thought dif- 
ferently concerning freewill, and made it to consist In the power 
of doing or of not doing any thing, at discretion ; that is, — in 
an exemption from all necessity whatever. But he imagined 
they had not in strictness adhered to the sentiments of St Au- 
gustine, who, he was pleased to say, placed freewill in an ex- 
emption only, from all exterior necessity, — without insisting on the 
power of not doing what it actually does perform, or of doing 
what it does not actually do. (Ibid. c. 8.) 

Such was the doctrine which Baius and Hessels taught at 
Louvajn respecting grace — and the privileges of man. It was 
adopted by many theologians, but censured by the Popes Pius 
V. and Gregory XIII. also by the faculty of theology at Paris, 
and by other catholic universities. Baius and the Lou vain doctors 
acknowledged they were wrong, and subscribed the condem- 
nation of their errors as required in the papal bulls ; and 
thus tranquillity was gradually restored between the contending 
parties. 

Baius and Hessels, or their friends, maintained some other 
opinions not according with the sentiments of theologians in ge- 
neral — regarding the merit of good works, the conception of the 
blessed Virgin, and other points which it seems unimportant here 
to notice. 

But although the faculty of Louvain seemed now completely 
tranquillized, disputes were again renewed with warmth — on oc- 
casion of the doctrine of Lessius and Hemelius, both of the so- 
ciety of St Ignatius, concerning grace and predestination. No- 
thing could be more diametrically opposed to the tenets of 
Baianism, than were the principles of Lessius. This divine 
contended, that after the fall of Adam, Almighty God bestowed 
on all men sufficient means of preservation against sin, and 
abundant succours to obtain eternal life ; that Holy Scripture 
was full of precepts and exhortations to induce sinners to repen- 
tance : whence Lessius inferred that God, who never commands 
impossibilities, gave them sufficient graces for their conversion. 



B A I 143 

In his opinion, St Augustine did not seem to have explained the 
meaning of the apostle in those words to Timothy — God isoilleth 
th it all men may be saved — when he said St Paul meant only, 

-that God actually did save all those that are saved. Lessius 
moreover taught, — that all those passages in Holy Scripture, 
which assert that it is impossible for certain persons to repent in 
order to their amendment, signify only — extremely difficult : and 
he maintained, that the person who is invincibly ignorant re- 
garding faith, is bound to observe the precepts of natural reli- 
gion, that is — the ten commandments ; and has it in fris power 
so to do : unless we are prepared to say with sectaries, that free- 
will unto good is now extinct. He held also, that predestination 
to eternal life was the effect of merit foreseen ; and laid no great 
stress upon St Augustine's thinking otherwise. Other opinions 
relative to Holy Scripture Lessius taught — in opposition to the 
Lou vain doctors ; but, as irrelevant to the errors of Baianism, 
we will not enter into discussion regarding them. 

In the university of Lou vain, the name of Augustine was re- 
vered. Hence it is not surprising, if what appeared to the fa- 
culty in the least to derogate from the authority of that father, 
was enough to spread alarm. It censured, accordingly, thirty 
propositions extracted from the works of Lessius ; and the cen- 
sure was notified in form to all the churches in the Low Coun- 
tries. The pope's nuncio interfered, and imposed silence on the 
parties ; allowing Lessius to teach a doctrine which the Roman 
church, the mistress of all other churches, had not condemned, — 
provided no imputation was thrown on those of a different opi- 
nion ; and granting a like privilege in favor of the Louvain doc- 
tors. The compromise was mutually accepted ; but other con- 
testations succeeded — between the Society and the Dominicans in 
Spain, in which Molina and his antagonists displayed their syl- 
logistic skill to great advantage. Nor had the controversy re- 
specting grace and predestination at Louvain quite subsided. 
The friends of Baius now pretended, that the censured proposi- 
tions, if taken in a certain acceptation, contained the doctrine of 
St Augustine. On the other hand, Lessius and his followers in- 
sisted, that their sentiments were not in opposition to that father ; 
while Janson and his disciple Jansenius combated 1 the principles 
of Lessius, by the sole authority of St Augustine as understood 
by themselves. Jansenius read profoundly all his voluminous 
works no less than ten times over, and those against the Pela- 
gians thirty times. The result of his researches was, that he 
persuaded himself St Augustine thought as he did. Lessius and 
Molina, he contended, were attempting to renew the principles 
of Pelagianism. 

Jansenius's famous .work did not appear in print till after his 
decease, in 1640. Refutations and apologies were undertaken 
en routine by the most celebrated writers of the age. Urban 



44 B A I 

VIII. after having carefully examined the book, censured it as 
containing some of the propositions of Baius which had been 
condemned by Pius V. and Gregory XIII. In the year 1650 
five propositions — extracted from the work of Jansenius, were sent 
to Rome, with a request to the pope in the name of several pre- 
lates of the church, solemnly to condemn them. The obnoxious 
propositions are those which follow : — 

1 . Some of the Divine commandments are impossible to the 
faithful, according to their present circumstances ; although they 
wish and endeavour to observe them : they are left destitute of 
that grace by which they are rendered possible. 

2. In the state of corrupt nature, no one ever resists interior 
grace. 

3. In order to merit or demerit in the state of corrupt nature, 
the liberty which excludes necessity is not requisite in man ; but 
it suffices to have the liberty which excludes compulsion. 

4. The Semi- Pelagians admitted the necessity of preventing 
interior grace for every individual action, even the first begin- 
nings of faith ; and they were heretics in pretending, that this 
grace was of such a nature, that the will had the power of resist- 
ing or consenting. 

5. It is an error of the Semi- Pelagians to say — that Jesus 
Christ died and shed his blood for all men. 

The first proposition is declared in the papal bull of Innocent 
X. — rash, impious, blasphemous, deserving of anathema, and 
heretical ; the second, heretical ; the third, also heretical ; the 
fourth, false and heretical ; the fifth, false, rash, scandalous ; 
and, in case it be understood in the sense that Jesus Christ died 
only for the predestinate, the pope condemns it as impious, 
blasphemous, injurious, derogatory from the divine mercy, and 
heretical. 

As the defenders of Jansenius did not pretend to excuse the 
propositions taken in their worst sense, but maintained, that this 
was not the sense of Jansenius $ Pope Innocent, in a brief dated 
September 29, 1654, declared that he had condemned the doc- 
trine contained in Jansenius's book. This explanation, though 
sufficiently explicit 3 did not satisfy the Jansenists - 9 and Alex- 
ander VII. confirmed, by another brief, the bull of Innocent X. 
stating expressly, that the propositions had been condemned 
in the sense of Jansenius ; and, upon the pressing application of 
the king of France, the same pope published a bull, dated Feb- 
ruary 15, 1665, in which was inserted a formula of abjuration 
upon oath — of the proscribed propositions ; — enjoining all bi- 
shops to cause it to be signed. Some wished to decline it, and 
to observe only what they termed a respectful silence in reference 
to the formula, till Clement XI finally decreed in his constitu- 
tion of 1763, that this kind of respectful silence did not yield 



BAR 145 

tlue obedience to the decisions of the sovereign pontiffs— upon 
the business in question. 

The clergy assembled at Paris in 1705, approved and accept- 
ed this pontifical constitution ; which gave a death-blow to the 
advocates of Jansenism, after it had filled the most flourishing part 
of the Gallican and Belgian churches with religious tumult and 
insubordination. 

Baptists or Anababtists — See that article. 

Bardesanes — a native of Syria, and one of the most illus- 
trious champions of the christian faith — flourished under Mar- 
cus Aurelius who conquered Mesopotamia in 166. As this 
prince was an enemy to Christianity, Apollonius his favourite 
wished to signalize his zeal by compelling Bardesanes to re- 
nounce his faith. But Bardesanes resolutely answered, tha' he 
feared not death ; and that he could not hope to escape it, even 
though he should be willing to comply with what the em- 
peror demanded. 

This man — so enlightened and so virtuous — by a frailty inci- 
dent to human nature, fell into the not less impious than absurd 
doctrine of the Valentinians ; and with those infidels admitted a 
strange and fanciful generation of Eons; (See Valentinus) and 
denied the resurrection of the body. He did not, it is true, 
persist in the errors of that sect; but he adopted others. Like 
all the philosophers and theologians of his time, he wished to 
dive into the origin of evil, and to account for its existence in 
the universe. He saw the absurdity of making God the author 
of evil, and concluded that it had some other cause distinct from 
God : this cause, according to Bardesanes, of course was Satan 
or the Devil, whom he conceived to be the enemy of God, but 
not originally his creature. He held, therefore, an evil princi- 
ple, endowed with self-existence, and distinct from the Supreme 
Being whom he acknowledged to be but one ; not perceiving 
that self-existence necessarily included every other divine per- 
fection. 

Bardesanes's new system ascribed to Satan that department 
only, in the government of the universe, which appeared to 
him essentially requisite — in order to explain the origin of evil. 
Thus, said he, Almighty God created the universe and man : 
but the man which he formed at the beginning, was not man 
environed with the flesh ; but the human soul united to a body 
endowed with subtility, and of a substance resembling its own 
nature. This was the soul which God had created according to 
his own image and likeness, and which, surprised by the artifices 
of Satan, had been persuaded to transgress the divine law. In 
punishment of her crime, she was banished Paradise, and tied 
down to a carnal body, now become her prison. 

T 



146 B A S 

As this was the effect of sin, Bardesanes concluded, 1st.-— 
That Jesus Christ had not assumed a human body ; 2nd. — That 
we shall not rise again with our earthly body, but with a celes- 
tial body, which is to be the residence of an innocent and pure 
soul. (Orig. cont. Marcion Dial.) 

He acknowledged the immortality of the soul, and the liberty, 
the omnipotence and providence of God. (Euseb. de Praep. 
Evang. I. 1, c. 10.) He had combated fatalism in an excellent 
work of which Eusebius has preserved us a considerable frag- 
ment. But although he believed the soul of man exempt from 
the laws of destiny, he thought that, with regard to the body 9 
every thing was ruled by fate. (Epiph. Hser. 36. Photius Bib. 
Cod. 123. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 4.) 

Basilidians — the followers of Basilides, an Egyptian philo- 
sopher who flourished about the commencement of the second 
century. The origin of the world and its co-existing evils — was 
at this time a principle object of philosophic research. Basili- 
des regarded this second question as one the most interesting to 
human curiosity, and sought with much eagerness its solution in 
the books of the philosophers, the writings of Simon Magus and 
his disciple Menander, and even in the doctrines of Christianity 
itself. His faith, however, was but superficial ; and his curiosi- 
ty not yet sated. He formed to himself a system made up of 
the principles of Pythagoras, those of Simon Magus, the dogmas 
of Christianity, and the tenets of Judaism. (Clem. Alex. 1. 4. 
Strom.) 

Basilides supposed that the universe was not created immedi- 
ately by the Supreme Being, but by certain intellectual agents 
his creatures. This was the fashionable theorism of the day, 
and was almost general among the various sects which affected 
to descant upon the origin of the world, and its concomitant 
evils. According to Basilides the Supreme Being begot Under- 
standing : Understanding produced the Word : the Word pro- 
duced Prudence t Prudence generated Wisdom and Power : 
Wisdom and Power — the Virtues, the Principalities and the 
Angels : the Angels were of various orders ; the first of which 
produced the first Heaven and so on, to the amount of three 
hundred and sixty-five. (See Simon Magus, and Saturninus.) 
Those angels which occupy the lowest of the heavens, created 
this world ; and of course it is no matter of surprise, that there 
should therein exist a mixture of good and evil. The empire of 
the universe they divided among themselves ; and the chief an- 
gel of the heaven in which our earth is situated, had the Jewish 
nation for his inheritance ; which accounts for the many prodi- 
gies operated in their favor. This ambitious angel wished to 
subject all the tribes of the earth to his Jews. Upon this the other 
angels entered into a league against him, and all nations became 



B A $ U1 

enemies to the Jewish race. From that instant man was unhap- 
py, groaning under the tyranny of the ambitious angels. The 
Supreme Being compassionating human wretchedness, sent down 
his first-born son Intelligence, or Jesus the Christ, to deliver 
those that should believe in him. 

Basilides acknowledged the miracles which the christians 
ascribed to our blessed Redeemer. Nevertheless he denied the 
incarnation, and maintained that Jesus Christ had assumed only 
the appearance of man ; that in his passion he had exchanged 
figures with Simon of Cyrene, and that thus the Jews had cruci- 
fied Simon instead of Christ, who attended as spectator, and de- 
rided their infuriated malice in a form invisible to them ; and 
then ascended into heaven to his Father. Basilides did not con- 
ceive it incumbent on any one to die for Christ. On the con- 
trary, he affirmed that the martyrs suffered death for Simon of 
Cyrene, not for Jesus who did not die at all. (Iren. 1. 1, c. 32.) 

With a variety of other ridiculous errors, Basilides imagined 
that each individual had two souls $ in order, with the Pytha- 
goreans, to explain more easily the struggles of reason and the 
passions. (Clem. Alex. 1. 2, Strom.) He was a great profi- 
cient in the black art, and had his head brim-full of the reveries 
ofCabalism. He fancied that, because the sun performed his 
annual revolution, according to the ideas of former times, in 
365 days, this number must be peculiarly agreeable to the Su- 
preme Being ; and expressed it by these letters of the alphabet 
in the word Abraxas, to which he attached the privilege of 
drawing down the favours of heaven upon those that used it. 
Hence it was engraved upon stones, which, from the letters in- 
scribed, were called Abraxas ; and of which the different cabi- 
nets of Europe contain a prodigious number. Magic charac- 
ters and superstition were then in general use ; and the Abraxas 
were quickly propagated in all directions. It became usual to 
engrave upon them the symbols expressive of their supposed 
virtues, and the favours expected to be obtained. (Montfaucon, 
Antiq. expliq. T. 2, 1. 3.) 

Those ignorant and superstitious christians who had adopted 
the principles of Pythagoras, imagined that Jesus Christ resided 
in the sun, and that the Abraxas had the virtue of attracting 
his graces upon those that wore them ; and, in order to distin- 
guish themselves from the Basilidians and other Cabalists, they 
caused his image to be engraved upon their Abraxas. In fact, 
numbers of ill-instructed christians confided much in Talismans ; 
and even in St Chrysostom's time, some wore medals of Alex- 
ander the Great, ascribing to them the virtue of preserving his 
infatuated clients. (Chrys. Catech. 2.) 

The Basilidians propagated their sect in Spain and in the 
Gauls. Stupidity and superstition embraced their phantastic 
system ; and even learned men have put their ingenuity on the 



148 BEG 

rack to discover the mysteries of Christianity in their unintelli- 
gible symbols. (See Basnage, Hist, des Juifs, T. 2, 1. 3. 
Montfaucon Ant. Expl. t. 2.) 

Beghardje or Beguardjs — false devotees, who appeared in 
Germany at the commencement of the fourteenth age. A love 
of singularity, and, perhaps at first, a desire of rivalling the 
virtue of the mendicant and other religious orders lately establish- 
ed in the church, collected together, and united in particular 
societies — crowds of these wandering devotees in the different re- 
sorts where they happened to assemble. Societies of this de- 
scription were formed in Germany, in France and Italy, where 
they were known by the name of Beguards, of Frerots, of Fra- 
tricelli, of Dulcinists, Apostolics, &c. These sects had each 
their private conventicles, without any common head ; only the 
Frerots and the Dulcinists had their leaders apart. The Be- 
guards were a disorderly assemblage of men and women, who 
pretended to lead a life of greater perfection than other chris- 
tians. 

According to these sectaries, there was a certain degree of 
perfection to which every christian ought to aspire, and beyond 
which no man could advance ; otherwise, they pretended, some 
might attain to a higher state of perfection, than our Saviour 
Jesus Christ. . But when once a person is actually arrived at the 
desired term, he has no farther need of grace, of exercises of 
virtue, or of prayer. He is incapable of sin, and henceforward 
even in this life enjoys all possible beatitude. 

On their way to this state of impeccability, and even after its 
supposed attainment, they professed a more than ordinary ten- 
derness for each other, and soon perceived they were not yet 
exempt from the tyranny of the passions. They found it con- 
venient too, to satisfy these passions, and hit upon a witty ex- 
pedient to do away the crime. The act of fornication these 
hypocritical pretenders to perfection reckoned no sin, because, 
like our modern grand reformer Martin Luther — in defiance of 
the divine prohibition, they deemed it an act of necessity 9 espe- 
cially under temptation ; but to kiss a person was highly cri- 
minal. 

Their errors were condemned in a council held at Vienne 
under Clement V. in the year 1311 : they were classed as fol- 
lows : — 

1st. Man may attain even in this life a degree of perfection 
which will render him incapable of sin, or of increasing in 
grace. 

2nd. Those who are arrived at this perfection, ought neither 
to fast nor pray ; because in this state the senses are so com- 
pletely subject to the spirit and to reason, that a person may 
freely indulge his body whatsoever it craves. 



BER 149 

3rd. Those that have attained this state of liberty, are no 
longer subject to the commands of superiors, nor bound to com- 
ply with the precepts of the church. 

4th- Man may arrive at final beatitude in this life. 

5th. The practice of virtues obliges only the imperfect; but 
the perfect soul may dispense with them at will. 

6th. Simply to kiss a woman is a mortal sin ; but a carnal act 
wit'.' her is not so : — With other absurdities of no better ten- 
dency. (Dupin, 14 siecle, p. 366. D'Argentre, Collect. Jud. 
T. 1, p. 276. Natal. Alex, in saec. 14.) 

The condemnation of these fanatics did not extinguish the 
sect. It was perpetuated at Spire by one Berthold ; also in 
other parts of Germany. A part of their errors was adopted by 
the Frerots and the Dulcinists ; or rather, they fell into them 
by the natural tendency which these kind of sects in general 
have towards immorality. The Frerots held other eccentric 
doctrines peculiar to themselves. See the article Fratri- 
celli. 

Berexger or Berengarius — was born at Tours towards the 
close of the tenth century. After passing through a course of 
studies, he was appointed teacher in the public schools of St 
Martin, and was made treasurer of the church of Tours, and, 
progressively, archdeacon of Angers ; — without quitting, how- 
ever, his former professorship at Tours. He attacked tne doc- 
trine of transubstantiation, and maintained, that in the eucha- 
rist the bread and wine were not changed into the body and 
blood of Jesus Christ ; although he acknowledged — with Martin 
Luther after him, that both scripture and tradition expressly 
taught that the eucharist contained, verily and in reality, the bo- 
dy and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and that 
it was truly his body : but he held with the same Luther in 
later times, that the Word united himself to the bread and wine, 
and that by this union they became the body and blood of 
Christ, without any change of their nature or their physical 
essence, and without ceasing still to be bread and wine. 

This strange doctrine Berenger delivered in his school at 
Tours ; and all were shocked at the innovation. A letter which 
he wrote to the famous Lanfranc in defence of his opinion, was 
sent to Rome, and read in a council assembled by Pope Leo 
IX. in 10.50. The council condemned his doctrine, and ex- 
communicated his person. Berenger withdrew to the abbey of 
Preaux, and attempted to engage William Duke of Normandy 
to espouse his cause. But that prince ordered the bishops of 
the province to convene a synod ; in which Berenger was again 
condemned. In several other councils he retracted his errors, 
and as often repented of his recantations ; till Gregory VII. held 
another synod at Rome, in 1079, when Berenger once for till 



150 BER 

abjured his novel opinions. The pope treated him with great 
lenity and kindness ; and he died in retirement not far from 
Tours, in 1088. 

Messrs Claude, La Roque and Basnage, with other protes- 
tant authors, insist much upon the multitudes that followed Be- 
rengarius's system. On the contrary, Guimond, a contempora- 
ry historian and archbishop of A versa, testifies expressly, that 
Berengarius never had one single borough on his side, and that 
he was patronised by none but the ignorant. All historical mo- 
numents of the times which have been handed down to us, at- 
test the same. Nor ought the contrary assertion of William of 
Malmesbury, who lived only in the year 1242 ; or of Matthew 
of Westminster, who flourished so late as the fourteenth century, 
to nave any weight with persons of sound judgment. Their 
testimony comes too late : some Manichees, it is true, who re- 
appeared in France in the fourteenth century, denied with Be- 
rengarius, the dogma of transubstantiation. But this pretended 
perpetuity of the Berengarian doctrine which Basnage strains 
every nerve to render plausible, and endeavours to deduce from 
the ninth age down to the reformation, is not that perpetuity of 
faith which characterises the church of Christ, and is the exclu- 
sive mark of truth. There is not, perhaps, a single heresy which, 
by dint of sophisms and far fetched inductions, may not trace a 
long succession of its sectaries from its very birth, full as well as 
the reformation. Has not Sandius, for instance, discovered a 
regular succession of Aria?is in every epoch of Christianity? 
(Sand. Hist. Eccles.) 

The perpetuity to which the catholic church lays claim, is of a 
nature widely different. It requires essentially two conditions. 

1 . That no period can be assigned in which the controverted ar- 
ticle was unknown in the church, as was the error of Berengarius, 
who when it was objected that the universal church taught other- 
wise, replied that the church itself had perished. (Vide Lan- 
franc, c. 23.) 

2. It must be universal. For the true church being a visible 
society, and essentially catholic ,• that is, a religious society the 
most diffusively extended ; — a few obscure sectaries who teach 
and propagate their errors in secret, and are condemned by the 
whole church; — who have neither ministry, nor jurisdiction, 
nor authority, — cannot in any sense be said to represent the 
church of Christ. 

The Berengarians did not adhere invariably to Berengarius't 
system. All indeed, maintained that the bread and wine were 
not converted into the body and blood of Christ : but some of 
them could not conceive — how the Word should unite himself to 
the bread and wine in the eucharist ; and concluded, that in 
fact, the sacrament under both species, was not the body and 
blood of Jesus Christ, but only called so metaphorically, because 



BER 151 

it represented the body and blood of our blessed Redeemer. Thus 
Berengarius and his followers alike denied the mystery of tran- 
substantiation ; but while the master held that the consecrated 
bread became the body of Christ, the disciples believed it to be 
no more than the figure. The latter sentiment was adopted by 
the greater part of the sectaries who made their appearance after 
Berengarius, and who added this error to other ancient heresies. 
Of this description were — Peter de Bruys, Henry of Toulouse, 
Arnold of Brescia, the Albigenses, Amauri of Chartres, and — 
long after these, Wicklef, the Lollards, the Thaborists. Last of 
all, Carlostadius, Zuinglius and Calvin renewed the errors of the 
Berengarians ; while Luther embraced the doctrine of Berenga- 
rius himself, and maintained importation with great energy 
against the Sacramentarians. We will now beg leave to enter a 
little more at large into the merits of the cause ; and hope to de- 
monstrate to the full satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind 
not only the possibility of the real presence in the sacrament, but 
the truth of the catholic doctrine regarding it, — from scripture, 
from the unanimous authority of the fathers in every age, and 
from a principle of the soundest philosophy. But as the grand 
and indeed, the only plausible objection of protestants, originates 
in the supposed impossibility of the thing, it will not, it is hoped, 
be deemed preposterous, if here w r e begin our enquiry, and make 
it the first point of disquisition. 

A body, it is objected, cannot exist in many places at the same 
time. 

Were this an axiom self-evident and universal, applying even 
to Almighty Power, the Lutheran and the Catholic doctrine of the 
real presence must alike fall to the ground. But, are protestants 
in this country better acquainted with the essential properties of 
bodies, than all the most sagacious philosophers that ever have 
existed ? These have not dared positively to assert, that either 
extension or impenetrability form part of the essence of a natural 
body ; much less have they pretended to define or circumscribe 
the properties of a body supernatural. And if we do not know, 
as most certainly we do not, — with what extraordinary endow- 
ments our own bodies shall be gifted at the general resurrection, 
when, according to the doctrine of St Paul, they shall rise spi- 
ritual bodies ; who will have the temerity to limit the perfections 
of the glorified humanity of Jesus Christ ? Protestants will readi- 
ly admit that a spirit, although this too, is equally incomprehen- 
sible, may be really and substantially in all places at the same in- 
stant. For God is a spirit, and He is everywhere. Why then 
pertinaciously contend, that Omnipotence itself cannot commu- 
nicate that degree of spirituality to the transcendently glorious 
body of Christ, necessary to its existence in more than one place 
at the same time ? In effect, a body in motion really does exist 
in many places during a given period : a body which with one 



152 BER 

degree of velocity, moves forward at the rate of one foot each se- 
cond, in sixty seconds will be in every part of the space con- 
tained within sixty different feet. But if, instead of one degree 
of velocity we supposed it to have sixty, it would run the space 
of sixty feet each second ; consequently, would be in so many 
different places in that second : and so, in progression, if we 
supposed its velocity to be infinite, there would be no single in- 
stant of time in which this body would not exist in many places ; 
and it would run any given space in the smallest duration imagi- 
nable. Now the smallest imaginable duration is in regard of us 
an indivisible point ; and a body moving with infinite rapidity 
may thus — by the Divine Power — be every instant in many dis- 
tant places, really present to them all each moment : and this, 
we conceive, might answer every purpose of our blessed Savi- 
our's miraculous communication of himself to men in the most 
holy sacrament. Nor will this explanation be invalidated by ob- 
serving, that the very first law of motion would be inverted in 
the realization of such a system. Motion itself, and its primary 
laws, depend on God ; and it is equally easy for Him to cause a 
body to move in direct opposition to all its known laws, as to ob- 
serve the ordinary riormas. 

As to what remains, we pretend not to fathom the depth of 
the divine wisdom, or to reveal his unsearchable voays ; but only 
to make it obvious to all, that the mystery of the Real Presence 
is not repugnant to reason, nor contrary to the principles of 
sound philosophy. And this alone should abundantly suffice to 
do away the difficulties of protestants. For catholics — it is 
enough to know that it is the doctrine of truth, and that the 
reason of a true believer is — faith. 

The testimony of the senses against transubstantiation is an 
objection by no means so difficult. Our perceptions of a body 
we receive, only from the impressions excited in our soul. These 
impressions may be excited independently of the body, and by 
an immediate operation of the divinity on our souls : conse- 
quently, there subsists not any necessary connection between 
the testimony of the senses, and the existence of the objects 
which they represent. The certitude, therefore, of this testi- 
mony depends on the certitude which we have, that God does 
not excite, nor permit spirits of a higher order to excite in our 
soul, the impressions apt to be referred exclusively to bodies. 
Thus it is doubtless possible, that God may cause in our soul 
the impressions which we ascribe to bread and wine, although 
in effect there be neither the one nor the other. Nor is this 
supposition inconsistent with the maxim, that the testimony of 
our senses is, in the natural course of things, infallible, as long 
as we maintain (and catholics certainly do maintain in the pre- 
sent case) that God has admonished us not to give credit to our 
senses in this instance. Has he not, in effect, sufficiently fore- 



BER 153 

warned us not to lay too great a stress upon the testimony of the 
senses in the mystery of the blessed eucharist, by declaring be- 
forehand that here the bread and wine is converted into the body 
and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ? What pro- 
testant will deny that angels have appeared in the shap? of 
men, (Gen. xix. Matth. xxviii. Mark xvi. &c.) and the Holy 
Ghost in the shape of a dove ? (Luke hi. 22, &c.) Neither can 
the senses, properly speaking, be said, even on this occasion, to be 
deceived ; because they truly represent what is truly here ; namely 
the colour, shape, taste and other properties of bread and wine. 
The judgment indeed, is deceived if, in consequence of this co- 
lour, taste and shape, it too hastily pronounces, that this is, in 
fact, bread and wine. In the blessed sacrament, we may at all 
events securely depend on the sense of hearing ,• which informs 
us by the word of God and the authority of his church, that 
what appears to be bread and wine in the eucharist, is in truth 
the body and blood of Christ. Faith comes by hearing, saith St 
Paul, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Rom. x. 17.) 

Another difficulty against the catholic doctrine of the real 
presence and transubstantiation is, to conceive — how the body 
and blood of Christ can be contained entire in so small a space as 
that which is occupied by the consecrated species ; nay. evei. in 
the smallest sensible particle of them. This to human concep- 
tion, doubtles, is inexplicable ; but not impossible to Almighty 
Power, any more than for a camel to pass through the eye of a 
needle. With men this is impossible, says our blessed Redeem -r, 
but not with God, for with God all things are possible. (Matth. 
xix. 26. Mark x. 27.) 



THE REAL PRESENCE OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST 
DEMONSTRATED FROM SCRIPTURE, AND THE UNANIMOUS TES- 
TIMONY OF THE ANCIENT FATHERS AND DOCTORS OF THE 
CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The catholic church believes, that in the eucharist after the 
words of consecration, — are truly, really, and substantially pre- 
sent the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of 
Jesus Christ, under the outward forms or appearances of bread 
and wine ; and that, by virtue of our Saviour's words pro- 
nounced by the priest at the consecration, — is effected atiue 
and real change of one substance into another ; which we term 
transubstantiation. On the contrary, the more modern adver- 
saries of the catholic church, with the ancient Berengarians 
contend, that Christ's body and blood are not truly and really 
present in their own substance in the sacrament, but by faith 
only, and in figure ; or, according to some, with Berengarius 
originally, — if they be there at all— they are accompanied with 

u 



154 BER 

the substance of bread and wine. What then did our Blessed 
Redeemer actually institute, and give to his apostles at the last 
supper ? For the sacrament which the faithful receive at this 
day, is the same which the apostles then received, as both ca* 
tholics and their adversaries allow. In the twenty- sixth chapter 
of St Matthew, we read thus — Whilst they were at supper, Jesus 
took bread, blessed it and brake it, and gave it to his disciples, 
saying; this is my body: and taking the chalice he gave thanks, 
and gave it to them, saying ; Brink ye all of this, for this is 
my blood of the New Testament, which shall be sited for many 
unto the remission of sins. St. Mark, c. xiv. gives our Saviour's 
words as follows : — This is my body '». this is my blood of the New 
Testament, which shall be shed for many : And St. Luke, to the 
like import — This is my body which is given for you ; do this for 
a commemoration of me : this is the chalice of the New Testa- 
ment in my blood, which shall be shed for you. (c. xxii.) St Paul, 
in his first epistle to the Corinthians (c. xi.) agrees in substance 
with the evangelists : and what can possibly be more plain, and 
more expressive of the real presence and transubstantiation ? 
Certainly, had our Divine Redeemer intended to give only a mere* 
figure, excluding the reality — of his body and blood, this man- 
ner of expressing himself would have been exceedingly obscure, 
or rather downright absurd, as will presently appear. 

1. That the expression is very obscure in the protestant or fi- 
gurative acceptation, is abundantly demonstrated from the ef- 
fect. For every individual christian church throughout the world 
actually followed the contrary sense during the lapse of many ages, 
and constantly held that these words implied — not ^figurative, but 
the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in this adora- 
ble sacrament. It is remarkable through the whole series of the 
gospels, that when our Saviour spoke in parables any thing ob- 
scure, he carefully explained his meaning to the apostles. When 
they were alone, he explained all things, says St Mark, (c. iv.) 
Now at the institution of the blessed sacrament every circum- 
stance required, that he should express himself in the most intel- 
ligible terms. For — when, in fact, do all prudent persons endea- 
vour to explain their mind in the clearest manner possible, if 
no t — while, they are issuing commands of the utmost impor- 
tance — while tfiey are treating with, and taking leave of their 
nearest and dearest friends ; and above all, — while they are de- 
vising their last will and testament? All these circumstances 
concur in the institution of the most blessed sacrament. On this 
occasion our Lord Jesus commands that clean oblation to be 
made, which the prophet Malachi foretold would be offered to 
God in all places ; when he says — Do this in remembrance of me, 
(Luke xxii.) He institutes a sacrament, the use of which is to 
be daily and perpetual in his church : He is taking leave of his 
friends; — 1 will not rwo call you servants, saith he, but friends* 



BER 155 

(John xv.) Friends indeed, and confidential ministers, whom 
"he had appointed to teach all nations his gospel and divine law. 
In a word, he is forming a treaty, — a covenant, — an alliance 
which is to endure to the end of time. Can any circumstances 
be conceived to exist, which require greater accuracy and per- 
spicuity of words ? 

It is observable, moreover, that when our blessed Saviour 
designed to confer any very signal favour upon his church, he 
usually foretold and promised it, that it might more easily find 
credit when accomplished. Thus, for instance, he pro- 
mised the sacrament of baptism, and the power of forgiving 
sins : thus he foretold his passion, his death, his resurrection : 
thus, in a word, he foretold and promised to his church this 
inestimable benefit of the holy eucharist. His words are these — 
in the sixth chapter of St John : — The bread which I will give is 
my flesh for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, strove 
amongst themselves, saying: how can this man give us his flesh 
to eat ? Then Jesus said : verily, verily, I say unto you, unless 
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you 
shall not have life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drink- 
eth my blood, hath life everlasting, and I will raise Mm up at 
the last day ; for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
indeed : He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in 
me and I in him. From those words of the Jews — How can 
this man give us his flesh to eat— it is evident they understood 
our Saviour's promise was to be fulfilled by giving them in reality 
his flesh and blood : and our Lord, instead of explaining, as- 
serts in still more positive terms, that — except they eat his flesh 
and drink his blood, they shall not have life in them ; and that 
his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. These 
words were spoken in the presence of his apostles ; so that when 
he said at his last supper — This is my body which shall be given 
for you ; this is my blood which shall be shed for you : they could 
not reasonably understand it in any other sense, than as a realiza- 
tion of his promise ; namely, that it was his real flesh and blood, 
which he had declared, both to them and to the Jews, were meat 
and drink in reality. 

Again : would our Redeemer, who came to die for all man- 
kind, and who commanded his followers to avoid with all possi- 
ble care the least scandal ; would He if he had spoken only of a 
figurative eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, have ne- 
glected to explain himself, when he saw not only the Jews, — 
but even some of his disciples so far shocked at this his promise, 
as immediately to forsake him ? How much less when he fore- 
saw, that his whole visible church upon earth, would be in- 
volved, on this supposition, during the lapse of many ages, in 
so gross an error, and so serious an inconvenience ? This can- 
not be admitted on any prudential ground whatever. In vain 

v 2 



156 BER 

would protestants allege, that it is a usual thing in scripture and 
common discourse, to give to the sign the name of the thing 
signified. For when a thing neither naturally represents ano- 
ther, nor is known to be used as the representation ot another, 
it is contrary to all the laws of discourse, and highly absurd, to 
give it the name of what it is intended to signify, without first 
preparing the mind of the hearers so to understand it. This 
would be evidently the case in the present instance, as the fact 
alone of the whole church of Christ for ages being led astray by 
the supposed omission, plainly demonstrates. 

But, may not our Saviour's words at the last supper signify, 
that his body and blood are given in and *with the bread and 
wine, conformably to the opinion of Martin Luther and Beren- 
garius ? By no means ; for had our blessed Lord intended to give 
us his body and blood in and with the bread and wine, he would 
assuredly, have said — Here is my body, in this is my blood, ra- 
ther than — this is my body, this is my blood ; which words could 
not be verified without a substantial change of the sacramental 
elements into his body and blood. When our Redeemer chang- 
ed water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana, had he said — 
this is wine ; would not these words evidently have implied a 
substantial change of what was in the vessels, into wine ? The 
present case is exactly similar. 

Again : it is objected that St Paul terms the sacrament after 
Consecration bread, (1 Cor. xi.) and consequently excludes all 
idea of a change. This argument is but very weak and incon- 
clusive. First, because the scripture sometimes calls things after 
their change — by the name which they had before ; though it 
positively affirms them to have been substantially changed. 
Thus, though the water was changed into wine at Cana, the 
evangelists calls it water made wine, (John ii. 9.) Thus again, 
the scripture tells us (Exod. v. ii.) that Aaron's and the magicians' 
rods were changed into serpents : yet it calls them rods even af- 
ter this change. Aaron's rod devoured the magician's rods. 
Frequently also, it gives a thing the name of what it resembles. 
For instance, angels are called men in St Mark xvi. St Luke xxiv. 
and in various other passages of holy writ ; because they appear- 
ed under the disguise of men. It ought not therefore to seem 
extraordinary, if St Paul calls the sacrament bread ; as it has the 
outward appearance of bread, and was bread in reality before the 
All-powerful hand of God had wrought the change. 

It remains now that we briefly examine the sentiments of the 
primitive fathers and doctors of the church on this important 
subject. In the second age St Ignatius the holy bishop of An- 
tioch, a disciple of the apostles who suffered martyrdom about the 
year 107, and certainly must be presumed to have understood 
their doctrine, in his epistle to the christians of Smyrna calls the 
eucharist " the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, which suffered for 



BER 157 

our sins, and which the father raised by his bounty." In the 
same age St Justin Martyr, in his apology to the heathen em- 
peror for the christian religion, affirms, " That as our Saviour 
Jesus Christ was himself the Word made flesh, and took for our 
salvation both flesh and blood ; so we are taught, that the eu- 
charist is the flesh and blood of the same Jesus incarnate." 
(Apol. 2 ad Antonin.) Certainly, no man in his senses would 
write thus to a heathen emperor, if he understood the words of 
Christ only in a figurative sense. 

In the same age, St. Ireneus, in his fifth book against Here- 
sies, speaking of the sacramental bread and wine, says : « By 
the word of God, they are made the eucharist which is the bo- 
dy and blood of Christ." In the following age, St. Cyprian, 
in his sermon on the Lord's supper, says: " The bread which 
our Lord gave to his disciples, being changed, not in appear- 
ance, but in substance, by the omnipotency of the Word, is 
made flesh." He also affirms, that in the eucharist " we eat 
the body of Christ, and drink his blood." (Lib. de Orat. Dom.) 
A little before this, the famous Origen reminds us, (Horn. 7, 
in Levit.) that " in the old law T the manna was a figurative 
food ; but now, the flesh of God the Son made man, is meat in 
reality ; since he himself cries out, — My Jlesh is meat indeed" 
Tertullian, his contemporary, says : (1. 4. contr. Marcion.) 
« The bread which Christ took at his last supper, and distri- 
buted to his disciples, he changed into his body." 

In the fourth age, after St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, 
St. Ephrem, and St James of Nisibis, with many other Fathers 
eminent for learning and holiness of life, who all agree in the same 
sentiments, the great St Chrysostom delivers himself in the fol- 
lowing terms : " Let us on all occasions believe Almighty God ; 
nor contradict Him, though what He says seem contradictory 
to our reason and sense. His words cannot deceive us ; our senses 
are easily mistaken. His words never err ; our senses frequent- 
ly misguide us. Since, therefore, it is He who says — This is my 
body, let us rest convinced — it is so. He who did these things at 
his last supper, still continues to do the same : for our part, we 
act only as his ministers ; it is He that sanctifies ; it is He him- 
self that effects the change." (Horn. 83, in Matt.) How ma- 
ny now exclaim ; — Oh, that I could see him in his own figure, 
or any thing about him ! Believe me, you do more than see 
his person ; you eat his sacred flesh, you receive him within 
your bosom. — How pure ought not that tongue to be, which is 
purpled with his adorable blood !" (Horn. 87, p. 787. T. 7. 
Ed. Ben.) Can any thing be stronger, or more decisive in fa- 
vour of the cathoic doctrine ? 

St. Ambrose, another luminous doctor and father of the same 
age, writes thus : (lib. de his quae mysteriis initiantur, c. ix.) 
" Perhaps you will say — I see quite another thing : how can 



IBS B E R 

you assure me that I receive the body of Christ ?" To which 
lie answers: — " If the words of Elias were powerful enough to 
command fire from heaven, shall not the words of Christ be 
able to change the nature of the elements ? You have read of 
the whole creation — He said and they were made, he com- 
manded and they were created. Cannot then the word of 
Christ, which made out of nothing that which *mas not, change 
the things that are, into what they were not ?" 

In the same age, a little before SS Chrysostom and Ambrose, 
St Cyril of Jerusalem had said of the blessed eucharist : (Cat. 
Mys. 4.) " Do not consider it as mere bread and wine; for 
now it is the body and blood of Christ, according to our Lord's 
own words." And again : " Judge not the thing, says he, by 
the taste .... knowing and holding for certain, that what we 
see is not bread, although it tastes like bread ; but is the body 
of Christ." Could any catholic of the present times express his 
faith of transubstantiation more clearly ? St Jerom, St Augus- 
tine, St Paulinus, Leo the Great, and all the fathers of the 
church in every succeeding century, with one accord profess the 
same doctrine ; and where shall we find more able interpreters 
of the word of God, than they were ? From this unanimity of 
the fathers in each century we may fairly collect — what was the 
doctrine of the church in their times ? and the church itself de- 
cided the question in the condemnation of Berengarius, the first 
that openly contested it. Llis error was proscribed and ana- 
thematized by no less than fourteen councils in divers parts of 
Christendom — while he was still living. Their decisions were 
afterwards confirmed by the general councils of Lateran, Con- 
stance and Trent : — Not to mention the unanimous consent of 
the Greeks, and all the oriental christians of whatever denomi- 
nation, — demonstrated in the clearest manner by the authors of 
the book entitled — La Perpetaite tie la Foi> — confirmed by the 
authentic testimonies of their patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, 
abbots, &c. by the decrees of their synods against Cyril of Lu- 
ear ; by the writings of their ancient and modern divines, and 
by all their liturgies ; — and acknowledged by many protestant 
writers. Dr Philip Nicholai a protestant, in his first book of 
the kingdom of Christy p, 22, writes thus : " Let my christian 
readers be assured, that not only the churches of the Greeks, 
but also the Russians, and the Georgians, and the Armenians, 
and the Indians, and the Ethiopians, as many of them as be- 
lieve in Christ, hold the true and real presence of the body and 
blood of the Lord, &c." Now what can be a more convincing 
evidence of this doctrine having been handed down by tradi- 
tion from the apostles, than to see all descriptions of christians 
that have any pretensions to antiquity, with one accord profess- 
ing and upholding it ? 



BOG 169 

Bernard of Thuringia — was a hermit of the tenth century. 
Towards the middle of this century he announced with 'great 
energy the approaching dissolution of the world. This he col- 
lected from the Apocalypse which says, that after a thousand 
years are elapsed the old serpent shall be let loose. This old ser- 
pent the hermit took to be antichrist. Consequently, as the 
term of one thousand years, mentioned in the Apocalypse, was 
nearly expired, his appearance could not be very distant ; and, 
of course, the final dissolution must be at hand. To make his 
conceit appear more plausible, he supported it by a very singular 
kind of argument which, however, seemed conclusive to the ma- 
jority of his audience. When the day of the annunciation of the 
blessed Virgin shall fall on Good Friday ; know for certain, ex- 
claims the hoary enthusiast, that the day of judgment is very 
near. In a word, he at length persuaded himself, and proclaimed 
aloud in his sermons and discourse — that God had actually re- 
vealed to him the awful circumstance. A lively picture of that 
dreadful day ; the passage of the Apocalypse 5 and, above all, 
that effrontery with which the impostor announced his pretend- 
ed revelation, alarmed the credulity of infinite numbers of all 
ranks of people. Even the ministers of religion gave into the 
general delusion, and by their sermons contributed to diffuse a 
universal panic. An eclipse of the sun which happened to take 
place, threw all into confusion. Multitudes of people fled for 
refuge to the rocks, and hid themselves in caverns. Nor were 
they altogether tranquillized by the return of light, till theolo- 
gians were engaged to show, that the coming of antichrist was 
yet very distant At the commencement of the eleventh century 
the alarm completely ceased, when people saw the world continue 
to subsist as in the preceding ages ; and the hermit's prophecy 
was no longer current. 

Beryllus, bishop of Bostra in Arabia — after having worthily 
governed his diocese for some years, fell into the dangerous er- 
ror — that Jesus Christ had no existence before the incarnation ; 
imagining that he became God only at his temporal birth of the 
Virgin Mary. He added, that our blessed Redeemer was no 
otherwise to be esteemed God, but only in as much as the Father 
dwelt within him, as formerly he abode in a special manner with 
the prophets. The famous Origen was sent to Bostra to unde- 
ceive him; and, having entered into conversation with him, and 
learnt what were his sentiments from his own mouth, happily 
succeeded in reclaiming him from his errors, which Beryllus 
without hesitation instantly renounced. 

Blastus — was a Jew who embraced the sect of the Valenti- 
nians, and to the system of Valentinus added some Jewish prac- 
tices, to which he still remained attached. Such, for instance, 



169 B R O 

was the celebration of Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon. 
(Vide Autor. Append, apud Tert. de Prsescrip. c. 53.) 

Bogomilians — a term signifying, in the Sclavonian tongue, 
solicitors of the divine mercy, and appropriated to certain secta- 
ries of Bulgaria, the followers of one Basil a physician, who in 
the reign of Alexis Comnenus renewed the errors of the Pauli- 
cians. The inroads of barbarians, and the persecution of the 
Iconoclasts, had nearly extinguished learning throughout the 
empire of the Greeks. It had, however, begun to revive a little 
under Basil the Macedonian, Leo the philosopher, and his suc- 
cessors. But superstition and the love of the marvellous were 
still almost universally predominant. 

In these ages of ignorance and of childish credulity, some 
germs of the Paulician heresy not yet extinct, began insensibly 
to unfold, conjointly with the errors of the Messalians. Basil 
made up a compound of these errors ; selected twelve disciples, 
whom he stiled apostles -, and commissioned them to propagate 
his doctrine ; although — with the utmost caution and reserve. 
He was advanced in years, — of a modest countenance, and ha- 
bited like a monk. The emperor Alexis Comnenus signified a wish 
to see him ; affected a desire of becoming his disciple j and thus 
engaged him to reveal to him without disguise — the whole tenor 
of his impious doctrines. Alexis had concealed behind a curtain 
in the apartment where he gave him audience, one of his amanu- 
enses ; who took down in writing all that Basil said. The em- 
peror called an assembly of the senate, the military officers, the 
patriarch and the clergy ; and caused the paper which contained 
the obnoxious system, to be read in their presence. Basil did not 
disavow it. He offered to maintain whatever he had said, and 
declared his readiness to suffer the most cruel torments, and 
death itself, — under the delusive expectation that the angels 
would protect him. Every effort to undeceive him wasMried in 
vain ; and he was ultimately condemned to the stake. The emperor 
ratified the sentence; and, after fresh endeavours to reclaim 
him, an immense pile was constructed in the middle of the Hip- 
podrome ; and near to it was placed a cross. Basil had his 
choice ; but — not less obstinately than impiously — preferred the 
flames. 

The populace demanded aloud that all his sectarists should un- 
dergo the like chastisement. But Alexis was content to order 
them into custody ; where some renounced their errors, while 
others persisted to the end incorrigible. A professor of Wir- 
temberg published a history of these fanatics, in the year 1711. 
See also Baronius, Euthymius, Anna Comnena, &c. and the ar- 
ticles Paulicians and Messalians. 

Brownists — a sect of presbyterians, the followers of one 
Brown. See Presbyterians. 



CAB 161 



Cabalism — a word derived from the Hebrew, signifying 
Tradition. The Cabalistic art consists in the supposed know- 
ledge and explanation of the essence and the operations of the 
Supreme Being, of spiritual powers, &c. &c. ; and in deter- 
mining their energies by symbolical figures, — the arrangement 
of the alphabet, — the combination of numbers, and the pretend- 
ed method of discovering the hidden sense of scripture by the 
decomposition of the letters of which it is composed. 

The Chaldees had retained the belief of a Supreme Being 
whom they conceived to be self-existent, and to have originally 
created, as also still to govern, the universal world. As they ac- 
knowledged this Supreme Being to be the very source of exist- 
ence and fecundity, they thought he was with respect to the uni- 
verse, much the same thing as the heat of the sun was in regard 
of our earth. Hence they compared the Divinity to a fire or 
principle of light. But their reason not suffering them to place 
God on the list of material beings, they considered this light as 
infinitely more resplendent, more active, and more penetrating 
than the light of the sun. Thus does human ingenuity and 
systematic pride attempt to substitute a wild imagination for the 
dictates of right reason. 

Having proceeded thus far in their investigations of the first 
cause of all things, the Chaldees pursued their fanciful theorisms, 
and deemed the creation of the universe to be a kind of emana- 
tion from this great principle of light. The various emanations of 
the primitive light, in proportion as the}' receded from their 
source had forfeited, they would have it, something of their ac- 
tivity ; and, by the progressive decrease of this activity, they had 
lost their original levity, — had insensibly condensed themselves, 
or, if we may be allowed the expression — had weighed each other 
down. Hence, they became material, and formed the different 
species of beings which we see contained within the range of 
nature. 

Thus, in the system of the Chaldees, the First Cause or the 
Supreme Being, was environed with light, the splendor and the 
purity of which is inconceivable. This luminous region is full, 
say they, of pure and most blissful intelligences. Next in order 
succeeds the corporeal world, or the empyreal heaven ; which is 
an immense space illumined by the light immediately emanating 
from the Supreme Being. It is full of a fire less pure by infinite 
degrees than the primitive light, although infinitely more subtile 
and more rarefied than any matter whatever. Under the empy- 
reum is the ethereal expanse, or another vast region in the 
heavens occupied by a fire still more dense than that of the em- 

x 



162 CAB 

pyreum, but which nevertheless receives its heat from the empyric 
element. Below the ether are situated the fixed stars, scattered 
through an immense plain, in which the denser particles of 
the ethereal fire have concurred to form these heavenly lumina- 
ries. The planetary world comes next in succession to the re- 
gion of the stars ; and this is the space in which are contained — 
the sun, the moon and the planets, together with the lowest or- 
der of beings compounded of matter ; which matter not only is 
devoid of all activity, but even resists the motions and im- 
pressions of the light. 

In the system of emanations the luminous particles were — 
spirits, the various orders of which inhabited the spaces extend- 
ing from the moon to the lightsome mansions of the Supreme In- 
telligence. The sublunary region which enlightens the earth, 
the Chaldean philosophers imagined to contain those spirits j 
which being united to etherial bodies descended upon earth, and 
constituted the human species. Thus united — agreeably to the 
will of the Supreme Being, with human bodies, they entered in- 
to other animal bodies when set at liberty by death. Conse- 
quently the Chaldees held the transmigration of souls. They 
conceived moreover, that the goodness of the Supreme Being in 
uniting these etherial spirits to human bodies, had consulted their 
felicity ; and that, as matter was totally incapable of giving mo- 
tion to itself, it was this same order of spirits that influenced and 
regulated the course of the sun ; fertilized the earth with season- 
able rains ; and were the authors of all the gifts of nature. 
They termed them the good genii. Other spirits which they 
considered as the authors of thunder and lightning, — of fiery 
volcanos, earthquakes, storms and all disasters, they denomi- 
nated evil genii, and supposed them to be essentially malignant. 
To each of these two orders of spirits they ascribed a kind of 
hierarchy, and a certain gradation of jurisdiction and power. 

But why did not the Supreme Intelligence, essentially bene- 
ficent and good, at once crush to atoms that multitude of evil 
genii — by the weight of his omnipotence ? Some there were, that 
deemed it below the dignity of the Supreme Being, personally 
to encounter these malicious spirits, and fancied he had laid this 
charge upon the good genii : others thought, that the evil genii, 
naturally depraved, were indestructible ' y and that the Supreme 
Intelligence, equally unable to annihilate or to reclaim them, had 
hurled them down to the centre of the earth, and confined them 
to the sublunary world, where they exercised their inbred pro- 
pensity to evil ; and that, in order to protect mankind from ene- 
mies — so dangerous, so numberless and so formidable, he had 
sent into the terrestrial world friendly spirits who incessantly de- 
fended men against fche attacks of these material demons. To 
both they allotted names expressive of their different functions 
and degrees of power. These names it was sufficient to pro- 



C A I 163 

ttounce, to evoke or ehace them away, as circumstances should 
require. To find out the proper names of each genius, the 
Chaldees pretended, was the result of certain combinations of 
the letters of the alphabet, of which they were composed. The 
pronunciation of the magic name was a kind of prayer which the 
genius was unable to withstand ; and in this the origin of Caba- 
lism which ascribes to certain arbitrary and enigmatical terms— 
the virtue of raising spirits, and of working miracles through their 
medium, seems chiefly to consist. Sometimes the same names 
were used as a sort of exorcism, in consequence of the idea that 
the evil genii were banished to the centre of the earth, and that 
they could do no harm but by eluding the vigilance of the good 
genii, and thus escaping from their prison to the atmosphere 
above. When they heard the name of those spirits whose office 
it was to keep them shut up in the centre of the earth, they fled 
away like criminals who had escaped from their dungeons, — up- 
on the calling of the watch. 

They moreover fancied, that the name or the motto of tiie 
genii written or engraved upon medals, obliged those spirits not 
to quit the person that wore them ; and hence, it is probable, 
originated the superstitious use of talismans. 

Such was the philosophic system of the Chaldees; and it was 
in general estimation throughout almost all the oriental nations, 
as is attested by every historical monument of their theology and 
philosophy. These all concur in justifying our conjectures of the 
origin of Cabalism ; although the Jews with whom the term it- 
self originated, were unacquainted with this pretended art, at 
least till the eighth or ninth century. (See Stanley's History of 
Oriental Philosophy, Bergeri Cabalismus, &c.) 

Inferior deities or genii made a part also of the Platonic sys- 
tem ; while the Pythagorean philosophy ascribed a pecular vir- 
tue and efficacy to certain numbers. The first philosophers thaj 
acquired any knowledge of Christianity, wished to reconcile the 
doctrines of the apostles with the Chaldaic, the Platonic and 
Pythagorean opinions, and with the tenets of Judaism ; and 
from this heterogeneous compound originated the Eons of the 
Valentinians, the pretended mysteries of the Gnostics, and the 
black art, which the greatest part of ancient heretics were not 
ashamed openly to profess. This accommodating passion per- 
petuated itself among the eclectic philosophers of the third and 
fourth age : it was renewed at the period when the Arabs in- 
troduced into Europe the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato; 
and even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there have 
been found — some learned abettors of the idle reveries of the Jewish 
Cabalism. (Vide Scharmii Tntroduct. in dialectic. Caballseorum.) 

Cainites — were fanatics of the second age, who had an ex- 
traordinary veneration for Cain and other miscreants represent- 

x 2 



164 C A I 

ed in holy scripture as the most impious of men 5 for instance, 
Core, Judas the Iscariote, the Sodomites, &c. They were a 
branch of Gnostics who, to the most abandoned morals, added 
errors still lore execrable and impious. Bes'des the Creator of 
the universe, for whom they professed the most frantic enmity, 
they worshipped an imaginary Principle, a Being of superior 
d^nity, — more wise and powerful than he. They pretended 
that Cain was son of this Supreme divinity, while Abel was only 
the offspring of the former, Judas they fancied to have been 
endowed vvith extraordinary knowledge and wisdom, and that 
his motive for betraying our Blessed Saviour to the Jews, was 
his foresight of the advantages which his death would procure 
for mankind. Accordingly their gratitude compelled them to 
express a due acknowledgement of the favor, and to offer Judas 
extraordinary honours. They had a gospel which they ascribed 
to him ; and from this circumstance they w r ere also denominated 
Judaites. They rejected the Mosaic law, and the dogma of a 
future resurrection ; exhorted mankind to demolish as far as in 
them lay the works of the Creator, and to commit without re- 
morse all sorts of crimes 5 maintaining the equally absurd and 
impious doctrine, that evil actions were conducive to salvation. 
They imagined angels to preside over sin, and to assist their 
votaries in committing it : hence they invoked them on such oc- 
casions, and paid to them a kind of homage. In a word, their 
perfection consisted in laying aside all sense of shame, and per- 
petrating without a blush the most dishonest actions* 

Most of their abominable tenets were contained in a book 
which they entitled the Ascension of St Paul s in which — under 
the guise of revelations to that apostle in his famous rapt to 
heaven, they taught their blasphemous impieties. In the days 
of Tertullian, a woman of the sect, named Quintilla, appeared 
in Africa, and perverted many. Her proselytes were called 
Quintillianists. It appears that this abandoned woman had, if 
possible, improved upon the infamies of the Cainites. 

We should with difficulty be induced to believe, that an en- 
tire sect of men could have proceeded to such an excess of men- 
tal depravity, were it not attested by the most respectable 
fathers of the church. We derive our narrative concerning 
them from St Ireneus, Tertullian, St Epiphanius, Theodoret 
and St Augustine, who all agree in their account j and the two 
first on the list were contemporary with these maniacs. The 
extravagances of fanatics of latter times help not a little to ac- 
credit those of ancient heretics. Hornbec (Controv. p. 390) 
instances a certain Anabaptist, whose ideas, with respect to 
Judas, were similar to those of the Cainites. Hence we may 
infer, that when once the understanding is seduced by the cor- 
ruption of the heart, there is no error, no impiety so wicked 
and absurd, of which our perverse nature is. not capable* 



C A L 165 

Calixtins— See Hussites. 

Calvinism — The doctrine of John Calvin, a famous reformer, 
born at Noyon in France in 1509, and deceased at Geneva 
in 1564. The better to form a correct idea of Calvinism, it will 
be of service to attend a little to the spirit of its author. In- 
structed by one of the emissaries whom Luther and his fellow- 
reformers had sent into France, he undertook to form a system 
of theology in unison with the opinions of his teachers — a task 
which hitherto none of the innovating apostles had attempted. 
This, Calvin flattered himself he should accomplish by his 
book entitled Institutio Christiana, which appeared in print in 
1536. In this work he lays down as an uncontrovertible maxim, 
that the only rule of faith to a true believer, is — Holy Scripture ; 
and that God himself reveals to him by a particular inspiration 
of the holy spirit, its truth and proper meaning. But how we 
are infallibly to distinguish between this pretended inspiration 
and the fanaticism of an impostor, he has not thought proper 
to acquaint us. 

Compelled to abandon his native country, he retired to Gene- 
va, where Farel and Viret had already introduced the principles 
of the German reformers. Here he quickly forced himself into no- 
tice by declaiming against a decree of the synod of Berne, which 
had presumed to new model the public liturgy. Doubtless Cal- 
vin thought himself more fully inspired than this reforming 
synod. Unfortunately, the synod thought otherwise ; and poor 
Calvin was once more obliged to retreat, though not long after, 
upon a favourable change of system at Geneva, he was recalled ; 
assumed a kind of absolute religious monarchy ; established a 
consistory ; regulated at pleasure the form of service, the rites 
to be observed in the celebration of the Lord's supper, &c. and 
invested his consistory with full powers to issue censures and 
excommunications. Thus this self-commissioned preacher, after 
inveighing with pious zeal against that authority w r hich the pas- 
tors of the catholic church challenged as essential to their ministry, 
himself usurped an authority a hundred times more absolute and 
tyrannical, and forced the inspiration with which he had com- 
plimented each individual of the faithful — respectfully to ac- 
quiesce. 

The translator of Mosheim, who pretends that Calvin sur- 
passed all the other reformers by his erudition and talents, is 
obliged to own that he pushed his temerity, his morose severity 
and turbulent disposition to still greater lengths. (Vol. 4-, p. 91, 
note.) And what admirable qualities are these — of an apostle ! 
But the consistency of protestants will easily excuse in Calvin 
and other sectarists of the age, on account •, say they, of their SU' 
perior merit and virtues, w 7 hat in the Roman pontiffs they are 
pleased to ascribe to ambition and lawless despotism, unpardon- 



166 C A L 

able in them^ though never carried to half the excess. In what 
then, it may be asked, did the extraordinary virtues of this furi- 
ously crabbed reformer consist ? Was it, forsooth, in that chris- 
tian meekness and forbearance with which, impatient of control, 
he persecuted even unto death men who, in dissenting from him, 
thought themselves inspired like himself, and by his own princi- 
ples had a divine right to follow what appeared to them the dic- 
tates of the Holy Spirit ? But, in lieu of scripture and the pri- 
vate inspiration of each individual, Calvin found it more conve- 
nient now to substitute — his own tyrannical authority as the sole 
rule of faith at Geneva ; and condemned to the flames poor Ser- 
vetus his fellow reformer, because he could not recognise in the 
Word of God the same sense and doctrines which he (Calvit ) pre- 
tended to discern ; while at the same time he zealously declaimed 
against magistrates for prosecuting heretics in France. 

Nor has the Calvinism of latter times ceased to be practically 
inconsistent. It has always taught Holy Scripture to be the sole 
rule of faith, and that God enlighteneth every believer to dis- 
cover its true meaning ; also, that the sentiments of the fathers, 
the decrees of councils, the decisions of the church itself, are mere 
human authority to which no man is obliged to yield assent ; 
and still it has not ceased, in flat contradiction to all these prin- 
ciples — to hold synods, to draw up professions of faith, to con- 
demn reputed errors, and to excommunicate those that professed 
their adhesion to them. Thus has it treated the Socinians, the 
Anabaptists and Arminians ; who had all an equal title, even on 
Calvinistic grounds, to commence reformers, as the Calvinists 
themselves, or their master Calvin. A deist of our times who 
received his education in the very focus of Calvinism, with much 
energy and propriety charges the whole sect with this glaring 
contradiction. 

" Your history," says he, " is full of facts which prove you 
to have exercised an inquisition most intolerant and severe ; and 
that, instead of suffering the persecutions of others, the reformers 

soon became themselves relentless persecutors The pro- 

testant clergy arrogated to themselves the exclusive right of de- 
fining, regulating and pronouncing upon every thing : each one 
imperiously dictated to others his own peculiar fancies as a su- 
preme law. . . What man was ever more sarcastic, more im- 
perious, more positive, and more divinely infallible in his own 
conceit than Calvin ? The smallest opposition, the least objec- 
tion was enough in his estimation to devote the rash man that 
made it, to the stake : it was a work of Satan, and consigned 
him to damnation. Servetus was not the only person whose 
presumption in thinking otherwise than Calvin, cost him his 
life." 

" Most of his fellow reformers," continues he, " were, like 
him, intolerant and violent ; — all of them so much the more 



C A L 167 

criminal, in proportion as they were inconsistent 5 that bigoted 
orthodoxy which they affected to maintain, was itself a heresy 
according to the principles of the sect." (Deuxieme Lettre 
ecrite de la Montaigne, p. 49, 50, 68. J 

A protestant must be blind indeed, to imagine that holy 
scripture is the only rule of his faith. Before he reads this 
divine book, a youth is already taught by the lessons in his ca- 
techism and those of his instructors — to predetermine the scrip- 
tural meaning ; and this is the inspiration which conducts him 
in the perusal of the sacred book. In fact, a Lutheran never 
fails to recognise in scripture the sentiments of Luther ; a So- 
cinian, those of Socinus ; a member of the church of England, 
the tenets of the Episcopalians ; just as a Presbyterian thinks he 
there recognises the doctrines of Calvin. This fundamental de- 
fect in the general system of the reformation is alone sufficient 
to point out its absurdity. 

It is hard to conceive what solid answer Calvin and his col- 
leagues would have been able to return a well instructed catholic, 
that should have argued with them to the following effect : " You 
pretend yourselves commissioned by Almighty God to reform 
the church, while, in reality, you have received your mission 
neither from any lawful pastor, nor from any christian church 
whatever. Of course your mission must be extraordinary and 
miraculous. Make good your claim by miracle, as Moses, 
Jesus Christ and his apostles — all have set you the example. Lu- 
ther and divers others declare themselves reformers as well as 
you : you do not coincide with them ; you teach in many in- 
stances a quite different doctrine; you censure and condemn 
each other. Which of you am I to believe in preference ? 
You propose to me the sacred scripture as the only rule of my 
faith ; but you refuse to acknowledge as scripture, many books 
which the catholic church assures me are such ; and how shall 
we decide this important point, which scripture itself leaves un- 
determined ? You present me with a French translation of the 
bible. Give me some secure pledge of the fidelity of your 
translation, of which I am not qualified myself to judge. You 
say, I must not listen to the authority of men ; you yourselves 
are mortal men ; consequently I must not yield obedience to 
your's, in any thing that you may please to tell me. As holy 
scripture is the sole rule of faith, it is needless for you to preach, 
or to expound the word of God at all. I can read as well as 
you ; it is my duty there to find what God reveals, and not 
your's to point it out. You promise me the inspiration of the 
Holy Ghost to instruct me in the true sense of scripture : very 
well ; this inspiration itself dictates to me, that you are preach- 
ing falsehood ; and that the catholic church alone is privileged 
to teach the truth." 

The reasoner with his arguments Calvin would quickly have 



m C A L 

ordered to execution. " Stick monsters" he says, " must be 
choaked with f re and smoke, as was here done in the case of Mi- 
chael Servetus a Spaniard" (Calvin's Letter to Mons. du Poet.) 
The sanctity of Calvin's doctrine or of Calvinism, consists prin- 
cipally in the following heads. 

1. Absolute predestination and reprobation, independent of 
the foreknowledge which God has of the good or evil works of 
each particular person, purely because it is his will, without the 
least regard to the merits or demerits of men ! 2. According to 
Calvin, God gives to the predestinate faith and justice inamissi- 
Lle, and imputes not to them their sins ! 3. In consequence of 
original sin, the will of man is enfeebled — to such a degree, that 
it is incapable not only of any good w r ork meritorious of salva- 
tion, but of any action whatever, that is not vicious and imputable 
as sin ! 4. He teaches, that" it is impossible for man to resist 
evil concupiscence, and that free-will consists barely in being ex- 
empt from coaction or force, and not from necessity ! 5. That 
we are justified by faith alone ; consequently, that good works 
contribute nothing to salvation ; and that the sacraments have 
no other virtue but that of exciting our faith ! 6. That Jesus 
Christ is not really present in the sacrament of the eucharist, and 
that we therein receive him by faith only. He admits only two 
sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper : all exterior wor- 
ship, and the entire discipline of the catholic church, he abso- 
lutely rejects. 

To perfect his new system of theology, Calvin, ransacked the va- 
rious errors of almost every sect, ancient as well as modern ; those 
of the Predestinarians, the Donatists, the Iconoclasts ; those of 
Vigilantius, of Berengarius, the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the 
Beguardas, the Fratricelli, the Wicklefites, the Hussites ; and 
finally, those of Luther, and the Anabaptists. In reference to 
the blessed eucharist, he does not close in with Zuinglius who 
took it to be a mere figure of the body and blood of Jesus 
Christ : on the contrary, Calvin says we verity receive both the 
one and the other, yet by faith only ! Nor does he admit Lu- 
ther's scheme of impanation or — the presence of the body and 
blood of Christ together with the bread and wine, any more 
than transubstantiation with the catholics. Behold here three 
different and materially discordant methods — of explaining what 
Holy Scripture says regarding the blessed sacrament, devised 
by the three inspired chiefs of the reformation ! According to 
Zuinglius, the words of Jesus* Christ — this is my body — mean 
only — this is the sign of my body. Calvin maintains, that they 
import something more ; since Jesus Christ had promised to 
give us his flesh to eat. (John 6. 52.) Then, resumes Luther, 
the body of Jesus Christ is truly present — together with the 
bread and wine. Not so, cries Calvin : for if we once admit a 
real presence, we must of necessity admit the catholic transub- 



CAL 169 

-stantiation, and the sacrifice of the mass. How admirably do 
these divinely commissioned and divinely instructed gospelers 
accord in uniformity of doctrine ! 

If we compare what Calvin delivers upon presdestination, witk 
what he says of the want of free-will in man, we shall easily con- 
ceive that Bolsec had great reason to reproach him with making 
God the author of sin ; — a blasphemy which, horrible as it is, 
is equally the crime of Luther. What alone, in the ideas of 
these two champions of protestantism, constitutes the difference 
between the reprobate and the elect, is simply this, — that God 
does not impute their sins to the latter, but does so with regard 
to the former. Is it then consistent with the divine justice to 
impute to men, the sins which they have it not in their power 
to avoid ; or to damn some, and save others, precisely because 
it is his pleasure ? Calvin's abuse cf several passages of scrip- 
ture, in order to establish this execrable doctrine, itself demon- 
strates the absurdity of the maxim — that scripture alone is the 
rule of our belief. 

The inamissibility of justice, and the inutility of good works 
in order to salvation, taught by this reformer and by the Lu- 
theran divines, also involve the most pernicious consequences. 
They are diametrically opposite to the most formal testimonies; 
of holy scripture, and solely calculated to excite in christians a 
senseless presumption, and a marked contempt for all the works 
of piety. That Calvin's doctrine relative to the eucharist is ab- 
solutely unintelligible, even Mosheim and his translator are> 
forced to acknowledge. The Calvinists themselves seem, in 
general, now aware of the inconvenience, or rather the ab- 
surdity of their master's system : hardly have they retained one 
single dogma in its original purity : some they have altered * 
others they have softened and found it necessary "to modify. 
They have almost with one accord preferred the sentiment of 
Zuinglius respecting the Lord's supper ; and with him consider 
it merely as a figure. On predestination vast numbers have 
adopted the system of Arminius. (See his article.) 

Catholic controversialists have combated with success the 
various tenets of Calvinism, even in its most palliated form. 
They have demonstrated the formal opposition of its doctrines 
to scriptural authority, to the most ancient and perpetual tra- 
dition of the church, and to the truths which every christian, 
as such, is bound to admit. Calvin and his associates accused 
the Roman church of adulterating the religion established by 
Jesus Christ, and taught by his apostles. The reverse has been 
proved a thousand times in the fullest evidence. They them- 
selves were the innovators : not one solitary sect throughout 
the universe before the pretended reform professed Calvinism, 
or the religion of protestants ; they are alike detested and 
proscribed, in societies which have been separated from the 



170 C A L 

church of Rome more than fourteen hundred years. Deism 
and Socinianism are, exclusively, their undoubted offspring. 
(See Socinianism.) 

Calvinism — from its first establishment at Geneva, has there 
constantly maintained its ground : and, of the thirteen Swiss can- 
tons, six profess the Calvinistic doctrine. Till the year 1 572 it 
was the dominant religion in Holland ; since that period, the 
republic through motives of policy has tolerated all persuasions, 
although rigid Calvinism is still the established religion of the 
state. In England it has been gradually upon the decline ever 
since the reign of Elizabeth, notwithstanding the lawless efforts 
of the Puritans or Presbyterians — to promote its interests. When 
the church of England had discarded in great measure its origi- 
nal fanaticism, the Calvinists were classed among the non-con- 
formists, and were simply tolerated. In Scotland and in Prus- 
sia Calvinism is yet in all its purity. In certain districts of Ger- 
many it is mixed with Lutheranism, and was tolerated in 
France till the revocation of the edict of Nantes by order of 
Lewis XIV. 

Doubtless it will be asked, how a system so devoid of reason, — • 
ft system calculated to make the most virtuous minds despair, 
and to confirm sinners in their wicked course ; — to hold up the 
Deity as a tyrant, rather than an amiable master ; has, neverthe- 
less, found its votaries almost in every department throughout 
Europe. What we are about to say in order to account for 
this phenomenon in France, may be remarked, with due pro- 
portion, of the other European districts. At the commence- 
ment of the sixteenth century a reform of morals, and, in some 
instances, of discipline too, was certainly much wanted. The 
councils of Constance and Basle had laboured hard to procure it, 
as well in regard of the head, as of the members of the church j 
but, unfortunately, without the desired success. With the ac- 
tual state of things, all were discontent, and every circumstance 
announced an approaching revolution. 

At the close of the fifteenth century, Alexander VI. had scan- 
dalized the church by his infamous excesses and ambition. His 
successor Julius II. more intent upon warfare and conquest than 
attentive to the government of the faithful, was a mortal enemy 
to France, and was hated in proportion. Leo X. who succeeded 
him, had not too much pontifical virtue, and but little zeal for 
reform. In a word, it was easy to foresee that the general dis- 
content, and the abuses of the times, would quickly occasion a 
revolt against the papal authority itself. 

Hence it is not surprising, that the emissaries of Luther and 
his fellow reformers found every where disciples eager of seduc- 
tion. — To declaim immoderately against the pope, — against the 
clergy both secular and regular ; and — to censure with much 
heat and pretended zeal religious abuses — was an expedient 



CAL 171 

which never failed to obtain attention. The practice of confes- 
sion, fasting, works of satisfaction ; the observance of vows, air 
tendance at the public service, and the maintenance of the mi- 
nisters of religion — were now become a hardship no longer to be 
borne ; and an opportunity now presented itself of throwing off 
the yoke. The poison spread so rapidly among all ranks and 
conditions of life, that those whom it had tainted were themselves 
astonished at their numbers. The books of Luther, Melanc- 
thon, Carlostadius and Zuinglius, and those of other reformers, 
lighted up the torch of fanaticism throughout the kingdom. It 
mattered little what principles were embraced, provided a change 
of religion were effected. Calvin's famous work determined the 
choice in favor of Calvinism. 

The disaffection of the people towards the actual govern- 
ment in France, had not been less favorable to the revolution 
in question than were the abuses in the ecclesiastical polity. 
Francis II. a feeble and inactive prince, left the administration of 
affairs to the Duke of Guise. The grandees jealous of this rival 
authority, espoused in opposition the Calvinistic cause, and 
formed the conspiracy of Amboise in concert with that party 5 
which, though eventually defeated, did not fail to raise more ene- 
mies to government by the punishment itself of the conspirators, 
and thus to hatch new projects of revolt. 

Upon the accession of Charles IX. to the throne, it was his 
wish to reconcile the two parties ; and with this view he accord- 
ed a general amnesty for the past. But an unfortunate though 
accidental tumult at Vassi, in which several Calvinists lost their 
lives, was made the pretext of a civil war $ and it was prosecut- 
ed by both parties — with all the fury that fanaticism could in- 
spire ; till at length the protestants dictated to their lawful sove- 
reign the terms of peace. A king thus reduced to treat with his 
own rebel subjects, does not easily pardon the affront ; and 
Charles IX. conceived the rueful project of ridding himself by 
assassination of the Huguenot chiefs. The populace thus habi- 
tuated to carnage, stopt not here, but proceeded in the work of 
blood till some thousands had been immolated to their fury. 
This nefarious act of treachery was followed by another civil 
war ; which Henry III. at length terminated by a treaty still more 
favourable than the former to the cause of Calvinism. The dis- 
contented catholics, in their turn, formed a league which thejf 
very improperly denominated sacred ; and now became as un- 
traceable as the Huguenots themselves. Henry IV. who had 
been educated in the principles of the reformation, after a long 
and doubtful contest with the Leaguers, was at length univer- 
sally acknowledged as lawful sovereign, and granted to the Cal- 
vinists a new edict of pacification similar to the preceding ones, 
termed the pacification of Nantes. In the reign of Lewis XIIL 
the protestants again flew to arms 5 but were unsuccessful, and 

y 2 



!72 C A L 

beheld their places of security ceded to them by Henry IV. dis- 
mantled and in ruins. Lewis XIV. more puissant and despotic 
than his predecessors, revoked the edict of Nantes in 1685 ; and, 
from that epoch down to the late revolution, the Calvinists have 
not been allowed the public exercise of their relio-ion. 

This narrative, short and uncircumstantial as it is, may suffice 
to give a tolerable idea of the lamentable evils which a pre- 
tended reform of the catholic religion caused to France ; — a 
reform which, far from purifying faith and morals, has revived, 
as we have already noticed, a multitude — of erroneous doctrines 
proscribed in the different ages of the church ; a reform — whose 
principles overturn the very basis of morality centered in the 
liberty of man ; — throw tender consciences into despair, and the 
wicked into a fatal security ; — do away every motive of practical 
virtue, and from their very birth, have inspired their fanatic 
votaries with a sovereign contempt, alike of civil and ecclesiastic 
subordination. Recovered at length from their ancient bigotry, 
the bulk of Calvinistic doctors easily admit, that the Romish 
church which they thought proper to abandon, holds no funda- 
mental error, either in its doctrine, its morality, or its form of 
worship ; and that a good catholic may work out his salvation 
in the profession of his own religion. Why then, may we be 
allowed to ask, was all Europe involved during the lapse of more 
than an entire century in anarchy and disorder, for its destruction 
and the establishment of Calvinism in its place ? The tumult 
and confusion consequent upon its introduction into France, 
(and the same may be generally asserted with truth in regard of 
other nations) are fairly deducible from the avowed maxims of 
the chief reformers. In 1520, before any edict had been issued 
against Luther, he asserted in his book on Christian Liberty r , 
that the christian owes subjection to no man ; and inveighed in 
terms of the utmost virulence and disrespect against all crowned 
heads^and sovereigns indiscriminately. This was a prelude to 
the wars of the conquering Anabaptists. In his public Theses 
he maintained it to be a sacred duty to dethrone alike, both 
popes and emperors who should espouse their cause. In his 
treatise, On the Common Treasury, he countenanced the rifling 
of churches, of monasteries, and of bishoprics ; and deemed it 
in the ordinary course of things — that the gospel should occasion 
tumult, and be ushered in with blood. Such was the spirit 
which accompanied his turbulent emissaries into France. 

Calvin inculcated in his writings the charitable task of exter- 
minating — the bigoted miscreants, as he termed them, who 
should dare to oppose the reformation. Lettres de Calvin a 
Mons. du Poet et Fidelis Exposition &c Ought any govern- 
ment whatever to extend the benefit of religious toleration to such 
mutinous aud violent characters as these ? Their sectarists were 
faithful imitators of their masters. Bayle, who lived in the midst 



CAL 173 

of Calvinists, and was perfectly acquainted with their character, 
in his Avis anx Refugies, in 1690, reproaches them with having 
carried the licentiousness of envenomed satire to an excess here- 
tofore without example ; with having from their very birth dis- 
seminated over France defamatory libels, a species of composi- 
tion till then almost entirely unknown in that extensive kingdom. 
He reminds them of the edicts which their extreme audacity 
had extorted from the magistrates against them, in order to 
repress the unprincipled malignity with which their frantic mi- 
nisters — with the bible in their hand — were wont to calumniate 
the living and the dead. This their unchristian demeanour he 
contrasts — with that moderation and edifying patience which 
the catholics in England under similar, though much more try- 
ing circumstances, had exhibited — to the admiration of all 
Christendom. 

" There is no barrier of public tranquillity ," continues Bayle, 
" which you have not burst in sunder ; no tye calculated to 
ensure obedience to the legislature, which you have not dis- 
solved Thus have you verified the apprehensions conceived 

of you at your first appearance, and have fully justified the re- 
mark — that whoever disregards the authority of the church, will 
soon renounce submission to the civil powers ; and after equali- 
zing the pastors with their flock, will presently disclaim all su- 
periority of the magistrate over private individuals." In a word, 
this deistical writer, whom no one will suspect of partiality to 
the church of Rome, makes it appear, that even the heathens 
taught a doctrine more pure than was their's, regarding obedi- 
ence due to the laws of our country ; and he refutes with much 
energy and argument, the flimsy apologies by which they sought 
to palliate their unwarrantable propensity to rebellion. He had 
already shewn (response a la lettre d'un refugie) that the Cal- 
vinists were, and always had been, much more intolerant than 
the catholics, — a fact which they themselves had proved both by 
their intemperate writings and their conduct ; and that it is an 
invariable principle with them, that no king has a right to reign 
who is not strictly orthodox in their own distorted sense of the 
word. He tells them — that they themselves had compelled 
Lewis XIV. to revoke the edict of Nantes, and that in so doing, 
at the very most he had only followed the example of the states 
of Holland, who were in the habit of violating every treaty en- 
tered into with catholics. He had demonstrated, that in every 
protestant country the law was more intolerant and severe 
against Catholicism, than were those of France against the Cal- 
vinists. Their lamentations upon the pretended persecution 
raised against them, he deems ridiculous 5 and he declares to 
them, that their demeanour is a complete justification of that 
severity, with which they have been treated. (CEuvru de Bayle, 
torn. 2, p. 544.) 



17* ■ CAP 

With respect to the doctrines which Calvin disapproves, they 
had already been denied and combated by a multitude of discor- 
dant sects. These sects had, in their turn, been all condemned 
in proportion as they attracted notice. Their errors, however, 
had been transmitted down to the sixteenth century, either by 
the unconnected remnants of the sects themselves, or through 
the medium of church history. Those of the Donatists, of the 
Predestinarians, of Vigilantius, Berengarius and the Iconoclasts, 
&c. reappeared in the Albigenses, the Valdenses, the Beguardas, 
the Fratricelli, in Wicklef; Huss and the brethren of Bohemia ; 
and finally — in Luther, the Anabaptists, Carlostadius, Zuinglius, 
&c. j great part of them Calvin adopted and modelled into his 
own not less heterodox system of religion, the various articles of 
which we have refuted under the heads of Reformation, Lu- 
ther, Iconoclasts, Berengarius, Vigilantius, &c. &c. 

Cap- men — so called from their wearing a white cap, to which 
they attached a small plate of lead as the distinctive badge of 
their association, the purport of which was, they said, — to com- 
pel those at war to live in peace. With this view they formed 
a schism both in civil and religious matters, and separated from 
all society with other men. The first author of this sect was a 
certain visionary, who about the year 1186 pretended, that the 
blessed Virgin had appeared to him, and had shown him her 
image together with that of her Divine Son — on which were in- 
scribed the following words, Lamb of God who tahest away the 
sins of the world, grant us peace : that she had commanded him 
to form an association, whose members should always wear the 
image and a white cap — the symbol of peace and of innocence j 
should oblige themselves by oath to keep peace with one another, 
and force their neighbours to do the same. 

The general discontent occasioned by the endless divisions, in- 
testine broils and universal anarchy of this unhappy age, helped 
to keep in countenance this humorous conceit of the Cap-men. 
They did not fail to meet with patrons, and every where gained 
proselytes to the cause, particularly in the provinces of Burgundy 
and Berry. Unfortunately, these pacific brethren, to propagate 
the work of peace, began by making war, and maintained them- 
selves by pillaging those that hesitated to join their party. The 
bishops and nobility, compelled to oppose force with force, quick- 
ly repressed the fanatical banditti. But their spirit of insubordi- 
nation and revolt was soon revived in the Stadhingi, the Circum- 
cellions, the Albigenses, the Valdenses ; who were guilty of the 
like and worse disorders. In the succeeding century, there ap- 
peared in England Cap-men of a different species : they were 
the sectaries of Wicklef, who made it a matter of scruple and very 
conscientiously refused, to uncover their heads in presence of 
the most holy sacrament. These enthusiastics may be consi- 



CAT 175 

tiered as the predecessors of George Fox, and his disciples called 
Quakers. 

Carpocratians — the disciples of Carpocrates, a pretended 
concert and an ignorant philosopher of Alexandria in the second 
age. His morals were licentious ; and he fell into the same er- 
rors with Basilides and Saturninus, who were nearly his contem- 
poraries ; and also added other strange ideas of his own. He 
and his adherents abandoned themselves to every kind of de- 
bauchery and excess ; reprobated fasting and mortification, and 
sought in all things the gratification of their lawless passions. 
The honesty or dishonesty, innocence or criminality of an action, 
consisted, according to these immoral casuists, merely in the ima- 
gination. 

Carpocrates had a son — a youth of extraordinary parts — called 
Epiphanius. He wrote in justification of his father's principles, 
and soon became the idol of the sect. Dying at the age of 
seventeen he was worshipped as a god, and had a temple erected 
to him at Same, a town of Cephaloniaj where the Cephalonians 
assembled every first day in the month to celebrate the feast of 
his apotheosis. They offered sacrifice to this new divinity, in- 
stituted rejoicing days, and chaunted hymns to his honor. 

The Carpocratians regarded Jesus Christ simply as a human 
being, although more perfect than the rest of his fellow mortals ; 
believed him to be the son of Joseph and Mary, and acknow- 
ledged his miracles, and the reality of his sufferings and death. 
^Nor were they accused of denying his resurrection, but only that 
of other men at the last day ; and of affirming that only the soul 
of Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. 

Some of these sectaries, however, affected to esteem themselves 
equal, nay even superior to Christ in miracles and virtue; 
and, to impose upon the ignorant they practised magic, — a thing 
very common with the pretended philosophers of those days. 
As the summit of their perfection was the very depth of vice, we 
may give them credit for their superior virtue, too. Such is the 
edifying portrait of these ancient heretics drawn by St Ireneus, 
(1. 1, c. 24,) than whom no one could be better qualified to give 
a correct account, contemporary as he was with the sect 
itself. The rest of the fathers represent them in the same light. 
The pagans, unable to discriminate between true and false chris- 
tians, attributed to the whole body the disorders of a few fana- 
tics, and the magical collusions employed by the latter, discre- 
dited in their eyes the genuine miracles wrought by the apostles 
and their disciples. The fathers of the church remarked this in- 
convenience. (Epiph. Haer, 34, &c.) 

Cathari or Puritans — this name was assumed by the Mon- 
tanists, the Manichees, the Novatians, the Albigenses, and final- 



116 CAT 

ly, in England by the Presbyterians. It is generally under thtf 
mask of virtue and a pretended reform, that innovators seduce 
the simple, and procure patronage. But an affected regularity 
which originates from a spirit of contumacy and revolt, is com- 
monly of short duration, and often only an artifice to cover real 
disorders. When once they become the reigning sect, they as- 
sume quite a different character, and show what they really are, 
without disguise. So many examples of this kind of hypocrisy a 
thousand times renewed from the infancy of the church, ought, 
one would think, effectually to undeceive mankind. But, unfor- 
tunately, they are ever ready to take the bait anew. (Bergier 
Diction. Theol.) 

Catholics — are all those christians of whatever nation or 
description, who live in communion with the see of Rome. The 
occasional eptihet Roman is totally superfluous, as no denomi- 
nation of christians ever went by the name of catholics but them- 
selves alone. Far, however, from being a discredit to them ; 
was not St Paul himself a Roman catholic when he wrote his 
epistle to the Romans, and commended their faith as already 
celebrated through every part of the globe where the gospel had 
yet been announced ? St Ireneus, before the year 200, calls 
the Roman the " greatest "and the most ancient church, which is 
known to all, founded at Rome by the two most glorious apos- 
tles Peter and Paul: — a church," says he, " which retains the 
tradition received from them, and derived through a succession 
of bishops down to us. Showing which," continues this learned 
and primitive father, " we confound all that out of self-conceit, 
love of applause, blindness or certain false pretences, embrace 
unorthodox opinions. For, to this church alone, on account 
of its higher presidentship, it is necessary all other churches, 
that is, the faithful in every place, should have recourse. In 
this church the tradition of the apostles is faithfully preserved. . . 
By following this tradition, many barbarous nations proiess the 
faith without the use of the written word. These," says he, 
« would stop their ears against the blasphemies of sectarians, 
who have nothing but the novelty of their doctrine to recom- 
mend them. For the Valentinians w r ere not before Valentinus, 
nor the Marcionites before Marcion, &c. All these arose much 
too late." And will not the argument apply with redoubled 
force against the reformers of these latter times ? If Marcion 
and Valentinus, who appeared so early as the second age, were 
excepted against by St Ireneus as the teachers of new doctrines, 
what must be said of those who did not appear before the six- 
teenth, seventeenth, or even eighteenth centuries ? Whereas, 
the claim of catholics to antiquity can never be contested. The 
Donatists indeed, who separated from the catholic church at the 
commencement of the fourth age, like its adversaries of the 



GAT 177 

present day, maintained, that it had ceased to be the church of 
Christ. But the great St Augustine demonstrated with invin- 
cible force the unreasonableness of their exceptions, and proved 
against them and against modern reformists, — that the church 
is composed of both good and bad ; but that the good are not 
to be found out of its pale. He allows indeed, those to be bre- 
thren in the eyes of God, who are of the true church in the sin- 
cere desire of their hearts, and use their best endeavours to dis- 
cover it, when deprived of its external communion merely by the 
circumstance of invincible or inculpable ignorance, though God 
alone must be the judge of this interior disposition ; while the 
church considers exterior acts or circumstances as the direct ob- 
ject of her laws of discipline. This maxim St Augustine clearly 
teaches in his letter to Glorius, Eleusius and other Donatists, 
written about the year 398 ; where he says : " They who defend 
their opinion, though false and perverse in itself, yet with no ob- 
stinate malice, as having received it from their parents ; and dili- 
gently seek the truth — in readiness of heart to be reclaimed 
when they have found it, are by no means to be ranked with 
heretics." (Ep. 43. 61. 162. T. 2. p. 88.) Did but our pro- 
testant brethren reflect, that this is precisely the opinion of ca- 
tholic divines at the present day, they would not charge them 
with the want of charity in maintaining the doctrine of what is 
called exclusive salvation. For did not St Paul maintain this 
doctrine, when in the list of evil works which exclude their actors 
from the kingdom of heaven, he numbered heresies and sects ? 
And will any one accuse him of uncharitableness in so doing ? 

Roman catholics therefore, we assert, are scriptural catholics, 
and belong exclusively to that true church which all christians pro- 
fess with their lips, as often as they recite their creed : / believe 
the holy catholic church : — Catholic in the commission addressed 
to her by Christ in the persons of his apostles and their success- 
ors in the ministry, with a promise of his personal assistance till 
the end of time. " Go teach all nations . . saith he, and behold I 
am with you all days even to the consummation of the world." — 
Holy, if not in all her members, at least in her doctrine and mo- 
rality, by which thousands of her children actually do attain to 
an eminent degree of holiness ; and all might do so, were they 
obedient to her laws. Thus much evidently, our common creed 
insinuates ; and nothing short of this can verify its import. Is 
it not an insult to religion and a libel upon common sense — with 
Luther and the book of Homilies to insist, — that for the long 
lapse of eight hundred years and more before the times of this 
reformer, the church of God was buried in idolatry ; and that 
all its members — from the throne to the dunghill — were involved, 
without exception, in the horrid guilt of so damnable a prevari- 
cation ? What then became of the promised aid and presence of 
•ur Divine Redeemer and his Holy Spirit—- to guide its pastors 



178 CAT 

into all truth ? — The church of God, the pillar of truth uphold- 
ing the most execrable falsehoods and authorising practices the 
most impious and anti-christian ! Oh ! strange and worse than 
fanatic impudence ! Were there nothing but this wild sentiment 
alone in the blasphemous effusions of Luther's pen, this were 
alone sufficient, completely to discredit in the eyes of good sense, 
Kis pretended mission to reform the christian world. From this 
one instance the intelligent reader will appreciate that authority, 
which stigmatizes the catholic for practices held by him in sove- 
reign abhorrence, and for wicked doctrines a thousand times with 
the most solemn asseveration disavowed. See under the various 
articles Luther, Wicklef, &c. &c, the several controverted 
points of catholic discipline and dogmas of religious faith, vindi- 
cated from the odious and groundless aspersions of our much 
prejudiced and much misguided brethren. 

Catholics, moreover, have the advantage of all other chris- 
tian societies in point of number. They are in Europe alone com- 
puted to amount to near one hundred millions of souls. Conse- 
quently, in Europe alone they vastly outnumber the whole col- 
lective body of the reformed, with all their multifarious and 
discordant branches, divisions and subdivisions — of Lutherans, 
Luthero-Calvinists, Calvinists, Cal vino-Lutherans, Anabaptists, 
Socinians of five hundred different descriptions, Presbyterians, 
Brownists, Puritans, Independents, Fifth Monarchy-men, Church 
of England-men, Quakers, Methodists, Swedenburgians, and the 
Lord knows what countless sects of infatuated enthusiasts — as 
much at variance among themselves, as they all are with the 
catholic church. Without speaking of Italy, Spain, Germany, 
Poland, &c. or of past ages, when England, Scotland, and the 
other nations now protestant, together with those vast regions 
of Africa and Asia that are now Mahometan, professed the ca- 
tholic religion ; — down to the late revolution, there were more 
men of learning, and more universities in France alone, than 
in all the protestant dominions put together. Hence, as Dr 
Gibson rightly observes, in his conference with the late Honor- 
able Edmund Burke — if in any single instance the opinion of 
mankind should have its weight, it preponderates in favour of 
the catholic religion ; this " having had and still having the far 
greatest number of supporters — of all ranks and denominations, 
— of bishops, clergymen, kings, and parliaments, &c. ; and 
as it is agreed on all hands, that only one religion is right in 
itself, it being repugnant that God should reveal opposite truths 
or contradictions, — it is plain as demonstration on what side the 
balance inclines. The great St Augustine assigning his reasons 
for adhering to the catholic church, expresses himself in the 
manner following: — Many motives, says he, keep me in the 
bosom of the catholic church ; — the general consent of nations 
and people ; — an authority grounded upon miracles, upheld by 



CAT 179 

*hope, perfected with charity, and confirmed by antiquity; — 
the succession of bishops from St Peter to our time ; and the 
name of catholic ; a name so peculiar to the true church, that 
though all sectaries denominate themselves catholics, yet when 
you ask in any country whatever — where catholics meet, they 
have not the assurance to point to the places where themselves 
assemble." (L. cont. Ep. Fundamenti, c. 5.) The same in- 
comparable doctor of the church did not hesitate to say : " I 
would not believe the gospel itself, did not the authority of the 
church move me to it ;" and with reason too ; for how should 
we know infallibly — what is gospel, if the church had not as- 
certained the important query ? In his book, On the Advantage 
of Believing, he says : " Why shall we feel any difficulty in 
throwing ourselves upon the authority of the catholic church, 
which always has maintained herself by the succession of bishops 
in the apostolical sees, in spite of all the attempts of heretics 
whom she condemned ; — by the faith of the people ; — by the 
decision of councils, and by the authority of miracles ? It is the 
proof either of great impiety or extreme arrogance — not to ac- 
knowledge Her doctrine for a rule of christian faith." Hence it 
is not through disaffection ; but through a sense of the su- 
perior duty which they owe to God, and to the church esta- 
blished by Him; — a church whose faith has been professed 
through a long-continued series of ages — by councils, parlia- 
ments and sovereigns, and in a word by the great majority of 
christians ; that catholics cannot conscientiously embrace a 
different religion. " Here are fixed the boundaries of the so 
much boasted liberty of conscience : it cannot claim a right of 
superseding the repeated and uninterrupted decisions of this 
great majority, — of this collection of the discernment, learning 
and virtue of all the most splendid ornaments of every christian 
nation. But if any," continues Dr Gibson, " will be pre- 
sumptuous, and pretend to a further claim of individual sense 
and acuteness, and refuse a like liberty to catholics ; such, if 
consistent even with themselves, must admit — that liberty of 
conscience is an empty sound, and fictitious pretext of self- 
creating superiority, repugnant to common reflection and the 
general method of deciding on other concerns ; much more so 
on revelation, which comes by hearing that which has been 
heard or seen ; — not by opposition to the testimony of general 
or catholic acceptation. This it would be as absurd to compel 
a person to reject, as it would be to punish one who did not 
know the alphabet, for not professing the knowledge of lan- 
guages. — Much is said against forcing the conscience of one ex- 
alted individual : is it then more reasonable to compel, or to im- 
pose restraints upon many millions who are united to the great 
.body of christians of the present and all preceding ages, and by 
such compulsion force the unlearned to prefer their own igno- 

% 2 



ISO CAT 

ranee and stupidity to the decisions of the most general and en- 
lightened councils of whole Christendom ? Why should a sin- 
gle individual be constrained to protest and even swear, in any 
case, against such authoritative decisions ? If so, may we not 
conclude that the supposed liberality, and the boasted liberty 
of conscience, of this nation consists — in despising, protesting 
and swearing against — the judgment of the universal church, 
and even of its own progenitors, who all agreed in the same be- 
lief ! 

Are these extraordinary protests — may we ask — supposed to 
be the result of any solid investigation of motives of credibility, 
or the reverse? or are they not rash, at the best, and bi- 
goted in the extreme; contrived originally to answer some 
political or sinister view, but at present unnecessary for any 
purpose, and tormenting to the mind of the sincere. For how 
can peace be found in such a dissent from the general belief— 
in the most important affair of man ? Is it possible to conceive, 
that a religious and thinking mind should not experience most ex- 
cruciating torment, at the idea of abjuring the highest authority 
upon earth ; — an authority which God has sanctioned by the 
most credible promises of support : — and, by such a deed — of 
acting as if there were no revelation at all — as if no Redeemer 
had ever appeared, or spoken, or given law to man !" 

The leading articles of catholic faith are contained in the creed 
promulgated by Pope Pius IV. in 1564, the year after the close 
of the council of Trent, and agreeably to what the council had 
suggested. It goes under the name of Pius, and is subscribed 
by catholics on several important occasions ; it runs thus : — 

I, N. N. with a firm faith do believe and profess — all and 
every one of those things contained in that creed, of which 
the holy Roman church makes use. To "wit ; — I believe in 
one God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, 
of all things visible and invisible : and in one Lord Jesus Christ, 
the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before 
all ages : God of God ; Light of Light ; true God of true God : 
begotten, not made ; con substantial with the Father by whom 
all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, 
came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost 
of the Virgin Mary, and was made man: was crucified also for 
us under Pontius Pilate, — suffered and was buried : and the third 
day he rose again, according to the scriptures. He ascended 
into heaven ; sitteth at the right hand of the Father, — and is to 
come again with glory to judge the living and the dead : of 
whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost 
the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and 
the Son ; who together with the Father and the Son is adored 
and glorified ; who spoke by the prophets : — and one holy, ca- 
tholic and apostolic church. I confess one Baptism for the re* 



CAT 181 

mission of sins ; and I look for the resurrection of the dead and 
the life of the world to come. Amen. 

I most stedfastly admit and embrace the apostolical and eccle- 
siastical traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of 
the church. I also admit the Holy Scriptures according as our 
holy mother the church understands, and has always understood 
them ; to which it belongs to judge of the true sense and inter- 
pretation of the Scriptures : neither will I ever take and inter- 
pret them otherwise than agreeably to the unanimous consent 
of the Fathers. 

I also profess, that there are truly and properly seven sacra- 
ments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and 
necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for each 
one individually : namely, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucha- 
rist, Penance, the .Extreme Unction, Order and Matrimony : — 
and that they confer grace ; and that of these, Baptism, Confir- 
mation and Order, cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. 

I also receive and admit the received and approved ceremo- 
nies of the catholic church, used in the solemn administration of 
the aforesaid sacraments. 

All and every one of the things defined and declared in the 
holy council of Trent, concerning Original Sin and Justification, 
I embrace and receive. 

I profess likewise, that in the Mass is offered to God, a true, 
proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead. 
And that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, there is 
truly, really and substantially the body and blood, together with 
the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ : and that there 
is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into 
the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood ; 
which conversion the catholic church calls transubstantiation. I 
also confess that under either kind alone, Christ is received 
whole and entire, and a true sacrament. 

I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory (or a temporary 
place of suffering after death) : and that the souls therein de- 
tained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. 

Likewise, that the saints reigning together with Christ, are to 
be honored and invoked ; that they offer prayers to God in our 
behalf, and that their relics are to be had in veneration. 

I most firmly do maintain, that the images of Christ, of the 
ever- Virgin mother of God, and also of other saints, ought to 
be had and retained ; and that due honor and veneration is to 
be given them. 

Also I affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by 
Christ in the church ; and that the use of them is most whole- 
some to christian people. 

The holy, catholic, apostolic Roman church I acknowledge 
for the mother and mistress of all churches j and I promise true 



182 CAT 

obedience (in matters of religion) to the bishop of Rome, as 
successor to St Peter, prince of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus 
Christ. 

I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things 
delivered, defined and declared by the sacred canons and gene- 
ral councils, and particularly by the holy council of Trent: and 
I condemn, reject and anathematize all things contrary thereto, 
and all heresies which the church hath condemned, rejected and 
anathematized. 

I. N. N. do at this present freely profess, and sincerely hold 
this true catholic faith, without which (at least in desire and the 
sincere disposition of the heart) no one can be saved : and I 
promise most constantly to retain and confess the same entire 
and inviolate — with God's assistance — to the end of my life. 

The rule of catholic faith is — all that, and. that only, which 
God hath revealed, and the catholic church proposes to the 
belief of all. 

Catholic faith concerning justification through Christ, and 
the merit of good works, teacheth — I. That when man has 
sinned, the remission or pardon of sin is not attainable by him, 
otherwise than in and by the merits of the sufferings and death 
of Jesus Christ, who freely purchased our redemption. 

II. That it is only through the same merits of Jesus Christ, 
that the just man can obtain either an increase of holiness in 
this life, or eternal happiness in the next. 

III. That the good works of the just man proceeding from 
grace and charity, are so far acceptable to God, through his 
goodness and his sacred promises, as to be truly deserving of an 
eternal reward : " God crowning his own gifts, when he crowns 
the good works of his servants." 

On faith in Christ, the catholic church maintains — that the 
merits of Jesus Christ, though infinite in themselves, are not 
applied to us, otherwise than by a right faith in him. This 
faith is — one, entire, and conformable to its object ; which 
object is divine revelation, that is — the truths taught by Christ ; 
and to that revelation, or to those truths, faith gives an undoubt- 
ing assent. 

On the Divine Revelation the catholic maxim is — that in it 
are contained many mysterious doctrines, surpassing the natural 
reach of the human understanding : for which reason it became 
the wisdom and goodness of God to provide some way or means, 
whereby man might be enabled to learn what those mysterious 
doctrines were. 

II. — That the way or means to arrive at the knowledge of 
these divine truths, is — attention and submission to the voice of 
the legitimate pastors of the church — established by Christ for 
the instruction of all the faithful; spread for that end, in a 
greater or a less degree, through the remotest regions of the 



C A T 28S 

tarth ; visibly continued in the succession of pastors and people- 
through all ages. Whence the marks of this church are — uni- 
ty, visibility, indefectibility ; uninterrupted succession from the 
apostles ; universality or catholicity, and sanctity. 

III. — That the church designated by these distinctive charac- 
ters ; — thus established, thus continued, thus guided in one uni- 
form faith and subordination of government — is that which is 
termed the Roman catholic church ; the qualities just mentioned 
being, evidently and exclusively, applicable to her alone. 

From the testimony and authority of the catholic church we 
receive the scriptures, and believe them to contain the revealed 
word of God : and as the church can assuredly tell us what par- 
ticular book is the word of God ; so can she, with like assurance, 
tell us the true sense and meaning of it in controverted points of 
faith ; the same spirit of truth which directed the writing of the 
scriptures, directing also the church to understand them aright, 
and to teach all such mysteries and duties as are necessary to sal- 
vation. He that believeth not, shall be condemned, Mark. xvi. 
v. 16, and he that will not hear the church, let him be to thee as 
the Heathen man and the Publican, Matt, xviii. v. 17. Away 
then with private sense and interpretation, as directly contrary 
to the express injunction of our blessed Saviour, and to his most 
faithful apostle St Peter who says, that scripture is not to be ex- 
pounded by private interpretation, 2 Peter i. v. 20. 

Catholics hold that faith is unchangeable, and that of course 
the pastors of the church, who are, in a certain sense, the body 
representative, either dispersed or convened in council, have 
received no commission from Christ to frame new articles of 
faith — articles of faith being, exclusively, divine revelations ; — 
but to explain and to define to the faithful— what anciently was, 
and still is, received and retained as of faith in the church, — 
when debates and controversies arise concerning them. These 
definitions in matters of faith only, and proposed as such, ob- 
lige — under pain of heresy — all the faithful to a submission of 
their judgment. 

Nor is it an article of catholic faith, that the church cannot 
err in bare matters of fact ; or in matters of speculation or civil 
policy, depending merely on human judgment or testimony. 
These things are not revelations deposited in the church ; in 
regard of which alone she has the promised assistance of the 
Holy Spirit. 

With regard to the contested primacy of St Peter and his 
successors in the see of Rome — catholics believe, that superior 
and peculiar powers were given to St Peter, and that the Bishop 
of Rome, as his successor, is the Head of the whole catholic 
church ; in which sense, as already stated, this church may 
therefore be fitly styled Homan catholic, being a universal body 
united under one visible head. 



18* CAT 

It is no article of catholic belief, that the pope is in himself 
infallible, as separate from the church, even in expounding ar- 
ticles of faith : by consequence, papal definitions or decrees, in 
whatever form pronounced, considered independently of a gene- 
ral council, or the acceptance of the church, oblige none — 
under pain of heresy — to an interior assent. 

Nor do catholics, as catholics, believe, that the pope has any 
direct or indirect authority over the temporal concerns of states, 
or the jurisdiction of princes. Hence, should the pope pretend 
to absolve or to release his majesty's subjects from their allegi- 
ance on any pretext whatever, such dispensation they would 
view as frivolous and null. 

Neither, in the belief of catholics, can any licence be given 
to men — to lie, to forswear or perjure themselves ; to massa- 
cre their neighbours, or disturb their country, on pretence of 
promoting the catholic cause : furthermore, they believe, that 
all pardons or dispensations granted or pretended to be granted, 
in order to such ends or designs, would have no other validity 
or effect, than to add sacrilege and blasphemy to the above 
crimes. 

Detesting the immoral doctrine of equivocation and mentat 
reservation^ the catholic church inculcates and ever did incul- 
cate, that simplicity and godly sincerity are truly christian vir- 
tues, necessary to the conservation of justice, of truth, and the 
common security. 

Catholics believe, that there are seven sacraments, or sacrecf 
rites, instituted by our Saviour Jesus Christ, whereby the merits- 
of his passion are applied to the soul of the worthy receiver — 

1 . That in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist, there is 
truly and really contained the body of Christ, which was deli- 
vered for us, — and the blood which was shed for the remission of 
sins : the substance of the bread and wine being, by the power 
of God, converted into the substance of his blessed body and 
blood ; the species or appearances of bread and wine, remaining 
as they were. This change has been properly called Transub- 
stantiation. 

2. That Christ is not present in this sacrament according to 
his natural manner of existence ; that is, as bodies exist natural- 
ly : but in a manner proper to the character of his exalted and 
glorified body. His presence then, is real and substantial, but 
sacramental ; — not exposed to the external senses, nor obnoxious 
to corporal contingencies. 

3. That the body of Christ in this holy sacrament, is not se- 
parated from his blood, nor his blood from his body ; nor is 
either of them disjoined from his soul and his divinity : but all 
and the whole living Christ is entirely contained under each 
species : so that whoever receives under one kind, becomes truly 



CAT 185 

partakers of the whole sacrament : he is not deprived either of 
the life-giving body or blood. 

4. That our blessed Lord, in bequeathing to us his body and 
blood under two distinct species or kinds, instituted not only a 
sacrament, but also a sacrifice ; — a commemorative sacrifice dis- 
tinctly shewing his passion and death until he come. For, as the 
sacrifice of the cross was performed by a distinct effusion of his 
blood ; so is that sacrifice commemorated in this of the altar, 
by a distinction of the symbols. Jesus, therefore, is here given 
not to us only, but for us 5 and the church is hereby enriched 
with a true, proper and propitiatory sacrifice, usually termed the 
Mass : — propitiatory, we say ; because, representing in a lively 
manner, the passion and death of our Lord, it is peculiarly 
pleasing to our eternal Father, and thus more effectually applies 
to us the all-sufficient merits of the sacrifice of the cross. 

The catholic church also teaches, that sincere repentance or 
sorrow of mind, joined to a firm resolution of amendment, was 
at all times so necessary, that without it there could be no remis- 
sion of sin : but that, when a sinner repents of his sins from his 
heart, and acknowledges his transgressions — to God and to his 
ministers the dispensers of the mysteries of Christ, resolving to 
turn from his evil ways and to bring forth worthy fruits of peni- 
tence, — there is then, and not otherwise, an authority left by 
Christ to absolve such a penitential sinner from his sins : which 
authority, catholics believe, Christ gave to his apostles and their 
successors — the bishops and priests of his church — in these 
words : Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall re?nit 9 
they are remitted unto them, &c. John xx. 22, 23. 

The essential parts of penitence considered as a sacrament, 
are three — Contrition, (or a supernatural sorrow of mind) Con- 
fession, and Satisfaction — without which, in the case of grievous 
sin, — unless from unavoidable obstacles the two last, confession 
and satisfation, cannot be complied with, — the sinner according to 
the catholic doctrine cannot obtain forgiveness from God. 

By Confession is understood — the declaration which the peni- 
tent sinner makes of his sins, to the minister of God : the obliga- 
tion of which evidently follows from the words of Christ (John 
xx. 22, 23.) above quoted. For, to what purpose was this 
power given to the apostles and their successors in the ministry, 
if it imposed not on the sinner the obligation of making known 
his sins ? Or— how could the power be exercised, if no sins 
were manifested to the priest ? — Although with protestants it is 
generally neglected, and even ridiculed by many, it is notwith- 
standing sanctioned and recommended by the church of England 
in the book of Common Prayer (Visitation of the Sick) precise- 
ly as now practised in the catholic church. 

On the doctrine of satisfaction, catholics believe that — 
although no creature can make what is termed condign satia- 

A a 



186 CAT 

faction, either for the guilt of sin, or for the pain eternal due 
to it — this kind of satisfaction being proper to Christ our Sa- 
viour only, — yet penitent sinners, as members of Christ, may 
in some measure satisfy — by prayer, fasting, alms deeds, and 
other works of piety, for the temporal pain which, in the order 
of the divine justice, sometimes remains due after the guilt of 
sin and pain eternal have been remitted, as in the case of Da- 
vid (II. Kings, alias II. Samuel, c. xii.) Such penitential 
works, notwithstanding, are no otherwise satisfactory, than as 
joined and applied to that satisfaction which Jesus made upon 
the cross, in virtue of which alone all our good works find a 
grateful acceptance in the sight of God. 

By that dispensation of mercy which in the catholic church is 
called an indulgence, such temporal punishment only, is remitted, 
as in the order of divine justice may remain due after the guilt 
has been forgiven. 

Catholics also maintain the doctrine of purgatory , that is to 
say, — a place or state where souls departing this life — with re- 
mission of their sins as to the guilt or eternal pain, but yet liable 
to some temporal punishment still remaining due, or not per- 
fectly freed from the blemish of some defects which are called 
venial sins, are purged before their admittance into heaven, 
where nothing that is defiled can enter. (Rev. xxi. 27.) 

They moreover believe, that souls so detained in purgatory, 
being the living members of Christ Jesus, are relieved by the 
prayers and suffrages of their fellow members here on earth. 
But where this place may be — of what nature or quality the 
pains— how long souls may be there detained — in what manner 
the suffrages offered in their behalf are applied — whether by way 
of satisfaction or intercession, &c. are questions superfluous and 
impertinent as to faith. 

The extreme unction, so called from the oil used on the occa- 
sion, catholics believe to be a sacrament administered to dying 
persons — to strengthen them in their passage out of this life 
into a better : and they maintain it to be divinely instituted. 
(See James v. 14.) 

Order too, they believe to be a sacrament, by which the 
ministers of the church are consecrated, and power is given to 
them to perform such public offices, as regard the service of 
God, and the salvation of souls. 

Catholics likewise hold matrimony to be a sacrament of the 
new law, instituted by Christ, whereby a new dignity is added 
to the indissoluble contract of marriage, and grace is given to 
those who worthily receive it. 

The catholic christian is taught also to believe, that Christ 
has given to the pastors of his church power to enact religious 
laws, which all the faithful are bound to obey. Such, for in- 



CAT 187 

stance, as are those of Lent, Ember-days, the vigils of saints, 
abstinence at certain times, and the like. 

Nor are catholics ashamed to pay due honour to the relics of 
saints ; and they place holy images and pictures in their 
churches, the more easily to recollect their wandering thoughts, 
and to fix their memories on heavenly things j although God 
alone is the object of their worship and supreme adoration. 
They shew moreover, a respect for the representations of Christ 
— the myterious facts of their religion, and the saints of God — 
beyond what is due to any profane figure ; not that they imagine 
any virtue to reside in them, for which they ought to be ho- 
nored ; but because the honor exhibited to pictures is referred 
to the prototypes, or the things represented by them. 

They maintain also, that honor and respect are due to the 
bible, to the cross, to the name of Jesus, to churches, &c. as 
things peculiarly appertaining to God, without any danger 
whatever — of idolatry ; and to kings, magistrates and superiors : 
to whom honor is due, honor may be given without the smallest 
derogation from the majesty of God, or that divine worship 
which is exclusively appropriate to Him. 

Finally, catholics believe, that the angels and the saints in 
heaven, replenished with charity, pray for us their fellow mem- 
bers here on earth, and rejoice in our conversion ; — that seeing 
God, they see and know in Him all things suitable to their 
happy state; and that God may be inclined to hear their re- 
quests in our behalf, and for their sakes may grant us many 
favors : — therefore, they believe it is good and profitable to in- 
voke their intercession. Can this manner of invocation be in 
fact more injurious to Christ our Mediator, than it is for one 
christian to beg the prayers of another here on earth ? — How- 
ever, catholics are not taught so to rely on the prayers of 
others, as to neglect their own duty to God — in imploring for 
themselves Tris divine mercy and goodness ; in mortifying the 
deeds of the flesh ; in despising the world ; in loving and serving 
God and their neighbour ; in following the footsteps of Christ 
our Lord, who is the way, the truth, and the life. The ortho- 
doxy as well as the antiquity of the above and other articles and 
approved ceremonies of the catholic religion, are exhibited in 
their noon-day evidence by the Rev. Joseph Berrington, in his 
late learned and useful publication, inscribed — The Faith of 
catholics confirmed by Scripture, and attested by the Fathers 
of the five first centuries of the church ; whence hath been bor- 
rowed the sketch which 1 have just given of the catholic belief. 
They will also in their proper places be found to be satisfacto- 
rily discussed in the course of the present compilation. 

See the articles — Luther, Vigilantius, Wickliff, ZtflNG- 
Lius, &c. &c. 

A a 2 



188 CAT 



Ceremonies. 



In the administration of the sacraments and in other parts of 
her religious offices, the catholic church uses many rites and ce- 
remonies which have been derived from the most ancient times. 
This alone would be a sufficient plea for their retention ; as from 
this circumstance arises an additional proof of the antiquity of 
her faith and discipline. But these ceremonies, as they had in 
their primitive introduction ; so in their retention they still pos- 
sess other advantages : they excite attention j they impress the 
mind with a certain awe : to the unlearned they convey instruc- 
tion ; and on all occasions, departing from the usages of common 
life, they give a peculiar dignity and character to whatever action 
is connected with the service of the Almighty. Nor does this 
ceremonial part of our religion, enforced by what God himself 
commanded in the old law, any more than the rich dresses of its 
ministers, the decorations of its churches, and the general pomp 
of service accompanied with incense, lights and music — where 
circumstances will allow it, — in any degree affect that christian 
simplicity inculcated by the gospel ; the seat of which is in the 
heart 5 — or that adoration of the Father in spirit and in truthy 
(Jo. iv. 23.) which Christ demands from his followers. 

For each particular practice in the catholic church, which 
falls under the head of ceremonies, the authority, were it -neces- 
sary, might be adduced — of primitive times ; as each is recorded 
in the writings of the fathers. Of antiquity — the badge and glory 
of their church, even in things seemingly of small importance, or 
not always agreeable to modern notions, catholics are solicitously 
retentive. 

One of these usages — the retention in the Divine service of 
the Latin tongue — protestants particularly disapprove. On this 
subject it may suffice with the learned author of the faith of ca- 
tholics confirmed by scripture and attested by the fathers, &c. to 
remark, that the Deposit e of catholic faith being intimately in- 
terwoven with the primitive expressions of the liturgies in an- 
cient use, when the Greek language ceased to be spoken in the 
many nations which formerly constituted what was called the 
Greek church ; and even, as at present, was not understood ; the 
language of the liturgy remained unaltered, as was and is the 
case among the Syrians, Cophts, Armenians and Ethiopians. 
Every where the service is celebrated in a tongue no longer in- 
telligible to the vulgar. On what grounds then is it required, 
that the Latin or Western church should have followed another 
rule, particularly as in this church, in all the countries within 
its pale, the Latin language in the early ages was every where 
sufficiently understood, if not spoken ? And when the Northern 



CAT 189 

nations were reclaimed to the christian faith, the established rule 
was not altered — for this additional reason, — that the use of the 
same tongue in the public service might help to unite them more 
closely to the old church, and tend in some degree by this ap- 
proximation, to soften and civilize their manners. 

The general accord among all nations professing the catholic 
faith — not to admit any change in the language of their litur- 
gies, though in many other points of discipline they were much 
divided, — is a curious and important fact. And it must have 
rested on some general motives equally obvious to all, Doubt- 
less they saw — what daily experience confirmed — that modern 
languages were liable to change, while those that were no longer 
spoken, — from this very circumstance, and because, from the va- 
luable works written in them, they were cultivated by the learned 
—were become permanently stable. They saw that the majesty 
and decorum of religious worship would be best maintained, 
when no vulgar phraseology debased its expression ; that the 
use of the same language which a Chrysostom spoke at Constan- 
tinople, and a Jerom at Rome, would unite in a suitable recol- 
lection modern with ancient times ; and that the mere fact of 
the identity of language would be a convincing proof of the anti- 
quity of the catholic faith : and although it may be objected, 
that the people do not understand the words of the liturgy — the 
supposed inconvenience which equally prevailed in the Jewish 
worship without a censure from our Divine Redeemer, is done 
away ; since all instruction in sermons and catechism, is deliver- 
ed to them in their own tongue ; every part of the service is di- 
ligently explained, and not a single shade of darkness is permitted 
to remain. 

It is certainly most gratifying, and highly profitable when a 
catholic travels into distant countries, every where to find a ser- 
vice performed, — to the language and the ceremonies of which 
his ears and eyes have always been habituated. He can join in 
the offering without embarrassment ; and though removed, per- 
haps, a thousand miles from home, the moment he enters a 
church, in the principal offices of religion he ceases to be a 
stranger. The council of Trent, the more effectually to pre- 
vent this ancient usage from proving an occasion of ignorance 
in the people, orders all pastors and such as have the cure of 
souls, frequently, and especially on Sundays and holidays, to 
expound some portion of what is read, and some mystery of the 
holy sacrifice, (Sess. xxii. c. viii.) Moreover the whole of the 
church service is translated into the language of each country, 
and together with a variety of prayers for all occasions- and all 
states of life, put into the hands of the people. If with all this 
caution ignorance should still be found — as it will be found in 
many — every ingenuous mind will ascribe it to the usual causes of 
ignorance — to neglect and inattention, and not to any want of 



190 C E R 

knowledge of the Greek or Latin tongues. This ought abun- 
dantly to suffice to reconcile the candid reader to the catholic 
practice in this instance : the bigoted, prejudiced, and the in- 
sincere will still find cause to cavil. 

Cathari — See the article Manichees. 

Cerdonians — Sectaries who followed the opinions of Cerdo 
the Syrian. Cerdo adopted the errors of Simon Magus, tra- 
velled to Rome in the days of Pope Hyginus, and there dis- 
seminated his errors, sometimes privately, at other times in 
public and without reserve. When reproved for his temerity, 
he affected to be penitent, and pretended a desire to return to 
the communion of the church. His repeated relapses mani- 
fested his hypocrisy, and eventually procured his absolute ex- 
clusion. 

Like the greater part of the heretics of the second age, Cerdo 
maintained, that the universe was not the production of a God 
all-powerful and wise ; and to him the law of Moses appeared 
imperfect, — too severe to originate with a Being infinitely good. 
To do away the imaginary inconvenience, he admitted two 
principles as the efficient causes of ail things ; the one good, the 
other evil. The latter he supposed author of this visible world, 
and of the law of Moses. The former, which he called the un- 
known principle, was according to him, the father of Jesus 
Christ. But the humanity, the nativity, the sufferings and 
death of the Son of God, he said, were all in appearance only, 
not real. He believed the resurrection of the souls of men, but 
not their bodies : consequently, he held that the soul died to- 
gether with the body. All the books of the Old Testament he 
rejected, and with regard to the New, he thought proper to 
admit a part only — of the gospel of St Luke, retrenching all the 
rest. Marcion and his disciples held the same erroneous tenets. 
(See Marcionites.) 

Cerinthians — were the disciples of Cerinthus, who after a 
course of philosophy at Alexandria, towards the close of the 
first century, propagated his heterodox opinions principally in 
Asia minor. The apostle St John undertook the writing of his 
gospel in order to refute him, with other false teachers of that 
early period. Conformably to the ideas of Plato, Cerinthus ima- 
gined, that God was not himself the immediate author of this vi- 
sible world ; but that he had created spirits or intelligences — one 
more or less perfect than another ; that one of them had framed 
the universe^ and that they all had a part in its government and 
administration. Like Basilides he pretended, that the God of 
the Jews was one of these intelligences, — the author of their 
law, and of the various events which had attended them. Their 



C I R 191 

religious code he wished partially to preserve, and blended it in 
many points with Christianity. 

Jesus Christ, he said, was born like other men — of Joseph 
and Mary, although gifted with a wisdom and perfection 
more than human : that at the moment of his baptism, the Son 
of God or Christ had come down upon him in the form of a 
dove ; had revealed to him God the Father, till then unknown 
to man, whom he was destined to instruct ; and had impart- 
ed to him the power of working miracles : that at the hour of 
his passion, Christ had taken his departure to his heavenly Fa- 
ther ; and that Jesus alone had suffered ; had expired upon the 
cross ; had risen from the dead : but that the Christ, who was a 
pure spirit, was altogether incapable of suffering. Such were 
too, the errors of Carpocrates ; but the disciples of Cerinthus 
improved upon their master's reveries. 

The Cerinthians seem not to have long subsisted as a distinct 
sect, nor to have survived even to the times of the famous Origen. 
Probably they had been confounded and identified with some 
other sect of the second age. 

Chaldeans or Nestorians of Syria. See the article Nes- 
torius. 

Chiliasts. See Millenarians. 

Circumcellions — a branch of Donatists in Africa — of the 
fourth age. See the article Donatists. — This name was given 
also to certain enthusiasts who appeared in Germany about the 
middle of the thirteenth century. In the heat of the famous 
contests between the emperor Frederic and the popes, under the 
specious pretext of defending the cause of their sovereign, they 
complimented the Roman pontiffs with the title of heretics, and 
the bishops and other prelates their adherents — with the addi- 
tional epithet of Simoniacs : they pretended too, that the entire 
body of the priesthood being in the state of mortal sin, no longer 
possessed the privilege of consecrating the eucharist ; and that 
they were mere impostors : that neither the pope, nor bishops 
nor any man living had a right to impose an interdict upon 
their flock : that the Franciscan and Dominican friars seduced 
the church of God by their false teaching and their sermons ; — 
and that, in a word, out of the Circumcellion society no one 
lived according to the gospel. In the close of their harangue 
they informed their auditors, that they were going to impart to 
them the benefit of an indulgence — not like those which the 
pope and the bishops had devised, but one which came immedi- 
ately from the throne of God. (Dupin 15 e. siecle. D'Argentre 
loc. cit.) Part of their errors have been since revived by some of 
our modern reformers. 



192 C(EL 

Clanculakians — a sect of Anabaptists. See the article. 

Claudius of Turin — with a variety of other heterodox opi- 
nions, adopted at the commencement of the ninth age, the errors 
of the Iconoclasts and Vigilantius. Some abuses which he ob- 
served in the devotion of the faithful with respect to images and 
the relics of saints, determined him to contest the lawfulness of 
the devotion itself. He was a person, it would seem, of singu- 
lar exemplarity of life, but destitute of proper discernment ; and 
his zeal was not tempered with prudence and moderation. He 
was refuted by Dungal, Walafridus Strabo, and by Jonas of 
Orleans, and condemned by the council of Paris which de- 
clared, that images were to be retained in the churches for the 
instruction of the ignorant ; but by no means adored \ or vene- 
rated with any superstitious worship. (Mabil. Annal. Ord. 
Ben. 1. 29. n. 52, &c. Cone. T. 7, p. 1943.) See Iconoclasts, 
Vigilantius, &c. 

Clement — a native of Scotland, rejected alike both canons 
and councils, together with the religious writings of the fathers, 
and their explications of holy scripture. He pretended that 
Jesus Christ, descending into hell, had delivered thence the 
souls of all the damned, even those of infidels and idolaters ; 
and maintained many other erroneous doctrines concerning 
predestination. He was condemned with Adalbert in the coun- 
cil of Soissons, and in another synod held at Rome. Cone. T. 
4*. Bonif. Ep. 135. In Clement, as in many others, we may 
remark a striking instance of the abuse of learning, to which, 
for the age in which he lived, he had considerable pretensions. 
When not influenced by humility, learning itself becomes a 
snare, against which the apostle admonishes us, when he says, 
that science piiffs up ; and with great reason he exhorts us to be 
wise according to sobriety, 

Cleobius, or Cleobulus — was contemporary with Simon 
Magus, and like him undertook to combat Christianity. He 
denied the authority of the prophets, the omnipotence of the 
Divine Being, and the resurrection. The formation of the 
universe he ascribed to angels ; maintained that Jesus Christ 
was not born of a virgin ; and was author of a sect called from 
him Cleobians. (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 4?, c. 21. Theodoret, 
Heeret. Fab. 1. 3.) 

Ccelicolje— - worshippers of the firmament, or of the stars — 
were condemned as pagans and proscribed *in that capacity by 
special rescripts of the emperor Honorius. As they were ranked 
among the Jews in the Theodosian code, they were probably 
apostates from Christianity to Judaism, but did not adopt the 



COL 19S 

entire system, and were not subject to the high priest or the 
Sanhedrim, as were the rest of the Jews. They had however 
their superiors whom they termed elders like our modern pres- 
byterians. But we do not know in what precisely their errors 
consisted. The heathens called the Jews Ccelicolas ; and of 
them Juvenal says : nil prceter nubes et cceli numen adorant. 
Other pagan authors accuse them of worshipping the angels, 
meaning the genii or intelligences which, they imagined, animated 
the stars. The ancient prophets had frequently reproached 
them with this superstition ; and it was, in fact, a species of ido- 
latry most generally diffused among the Oriental nations. To 
this St Jerom refers the passage of St Paul to the Colossians, 
c. 2, v. 18, where he supposes the apostle understood by the 
angels — the spirits which presided over the firmament, and the 
heavenly bodies. According to him, the Jews and Pagans were 
both involved in this form of heathenish worship. (Epist. 151, 
n. 10, Cod. Theod. 1. 12, de Judais et Ccelicolis.) Pro- 
testants have thought fit to retort the charge upon St Jerom 
himself, no less than upon the catholics in their legitimate vene- 
ration of the angels and saints. 

Colarbassus — a celebrated Valentinian, who appears to have 
applied to the system of Valentinus the principles of Cabalism 
and judicial astrology. Men, he pretended, received the benefit 
of life from the seven planets ; and he ascribed all perfection and 
the plenitude of truth to the Greek alphabet, because Christ 
was named Alpha and Omega. (Autor. Append, ad Tert. 
de Prescript, c. 53.) 

Collegians — a sect of Arminians and Anabaptists in Hol- 
land, so called from their assembling every first Sunday in the 
month : on which occasions each individual assistant has the 
privilege of speaking and expounding the Holy Scripture, — of 
praying and singing psalms. These collegians are now all So- 
cinians, or Arians. They do not take the communion at their 
meeting-house or college, but convene from every part of Hol- 
land twice in the year at a village called Rinsbourg, two leagues 
from Leyden, where they receive their eucharist. The celebrant 
is the person who accidentally sits down first at the table : he ad- 
ministers indiscriminately to all the attendants — without enquir- 
ing what may be their system of religion. Baptism is given by 
immersing the whole body of the party in water. 

To speak with accuracy, this is the only society of protestants 
who act consistently with the grand maxim of the reformation, 
constituting each private person the arbiter — of his own belief, 
of the kind of worship which he thinks fit to render to the Deity, 
and the discipline which he chooses to adopt. In fact, their 
communion establishes among the members— a union merely 



194 COP 

nominal and external, — not that harmony of faith and sentiments 
which St Paul so energetically recommended to the faithful. 
(Philipp. i. 27, ii. 2, &c.) Jews and even Pagans themselves, 
without prejudice to their conscience, might fraternize with this 
society of protestants. 

Colluthians — were sectaries of the fourth age, the disciples 
of Colluthus a priest and curate of Alexandria. This priest, 
scandalized at the condescension with which St Alexander, pa- 
triarch of that see, at first had treated Arius, in order the more 
effectually to reclaim him, formed a schism, and even presumed 
himself to ordain priests — without having ever received the epis- 
copal character ; arrogating to himself this power — to enable him, 
he said, to oppose with effect the progress of Arianism. He 
moreover held, that Almighty God had not created the wicked ; 
and denied that human afflictions originated from Him. Col- 
luthus was condemned in a council convoked by Osius at Alex- 
andria in 319. 

Collyridians — were a kind of devotees to the blessed Vir- 
gin. They paid her a very fanciful sort of religious veneration, 
which consisted in offering cakes termed in Greek Collyrides ; 
and hence the sect derived its name. In this ceremony the wo- 
men performed the office of priesthood. They had a chariot 
with a quadrangular table in it, which they covered with a cloth ; 
and at a stated season of the year they presented a loaf; offered 
It up in the name of the Virgin Mary ; and then each of them 
partook of the oblation. This practice St Epiphanius justly 
censured as idolatrous, and also as contrary to the prohibition of 
the apostle, who formally excludes the sex from discharging any 
sacerdotal function. 

The Conscientious — an ancient sect of religionists, so called 
from their acknowledging no other law, no other rule of con- 
duct, but the dictate of their own conscience. This doctrine 
was renewed in the seventeenth century by Matthew Thoutsen 
a German, who exchanged this error for the more impious system 
of Atheism. (See Fatalism discussed, vol. 1.) 

Cophts or Egyptians — a sect of Jacobites or Monophusites, 
who admit only one nature in Jesus Christ. They are subject 
to the patriarch of Alexandria. Dioscorus patriarch of that see, 
a man of great influence, and much respected in Egypt, not- 
withstanding the condemnation of Eutyches in the council of 
Chalcedon in 451, remained obstinately attached to his cause 
and erroneous doctrine. He succeeded in persuading his clergy 
and the people, that the council of Chalcedon by condemning 
Eutyches, had justified and adopted the heresy of Nestorius j 



COP 195 

although in fact this council equally reprobated and anathema- 
tized them both. The severities and the violence which theem- 
perors of Constantinople employed, in order to enforce the de- 
crees of the council, alienated the affections of the people in 
Egypt ; who were excluded in consequence, from all civil, eccle- 
siastic and military dignities ; and conceived the most violent 
hatred against their persecutors, and even against catholicity it- 
self. Great numbers retired with their schismatical patriarch at 
their head, into Upper Egypt ; and when the Saracens or Ma- 
hometan Arabs undertook about the year 660 the invasion of 
Egypt, the Cophts or schismatic Egyptians treacherously sur- 
rendered into their hands the fortified places, and thus obtained 
of them the public exercise of their religion. The Mahome- 
tans, however, quickly forgot their services, and deprived them 
of this privilege, which they were compelled to redeem by dint 
of money. They are now reduced to the inconsiderable number 
of about fifteen thousand ; though they are said to have amount- 
ed to no less than six hundred thousand at the period of the Sa- 
racen conquest. 

Ever since the Arabic became the vulgar language in Egypt, 
the nations have wholly laid aside their original Cophtic tongue, 
which is a compound of the Greek and ancient Egyptian. Ne- 
vertheless, they continue to celebrate the divine office in that 
language, and have it translated into the vulgar tongue, in or- 
der to prevent their being ignorant of what is said. They have 
three different liturgies j — those of St Basil, St Gregory Na- 
zianzen, and St Cyril of Alexandria : they were all translated 
into the Cophtic language from the original Greek. The last 
of the above liturgies bears the nearest resemblance with that of 
St Mark, which is supposed to be the same in use before the 
schism of Dioscorus, or anterior to the fifth age. The catholics 
of Egypt continued to use it, as long as they subsisted under the 
united persecutions of the Cophts and infidel Mahometans. 
The schismatics corrupted their liturgies in one instance only, 
by inserting their error of the unity of nature in Jesus Christ. 
It is the only doctrinal error with which they have been 
charged : in every other point of christian doctrine, they hold 
precisely the same articles with the church of Rome. In their 
liturgies and their confessions of faith, they acknowledge seven 
sacraments. Immediately after baptism, they give the child 
confirmation, as also the communion under the species of wine 
alone. The real presence of Jesus Christ in the eucharist, and 
transubstantiation, they with equal ardor uphold \ and the sacri- 
fice of the mass. This is a fact which their liturgies abundantly 
demonstrate. Confession is not in frequent use among them ; 
once or twice in the year at most, suffices. However, they 
ascribe to penitence and absolution the efficacy of pardon, and 
generally accompany them with certain unctions. In their 

B b2 



196 COP 

liturgies are mentioned also — the invocation of saints, and 
prayer for the dead. Nor have there ever been any other 
changes introduced into these liturgies, but that alluded to above ; 
as is manifest from their perfect agreement in all other points 
with those of the Greeks, the Syrians, the Armenians and 
Nestorians ; with whom the Cophts have had as little communi- 
cation, as with the church of Rome. Consequently, with the 
reserve of one single article, namely, the unity of nature in 
Jesus Christ, the Cophtic church has preserved exactly the 
same religious creed with the Roman catholic 5 and before the 
council of Chalcedon, and the schism of Dioscorus, this belief 
was that of the universal church. It is then without foundation 
that protestants accuse this faith of novelty, and as the inven- 
tion of more modern times. Its doctrines, we beg leave to re- 
peat, are fairly recognisable in the different schismatical 
churches — of the Greeks, of the Syrian Jacobites, and the 
Nestorians in Persia and the Indies, as well as those of the 
Egyptians and Ethiopians. These churches — equally, for the 
most part, at enmity with each other, as with the church of 
Rome, cannot with any semblance of probability be suspected 
to have changed — by common consent — their faith, their litur- 
gies and their discipline. Providence seems to have preserved 
them, only to attest the antiquity of those doctrines, which 
protestants have made the pretended motives of their separation 
from the catholic church. The latter are, in fact, the only sec- 
taries in the universe, who profess that creed which they vainly 
affect to stile — the ancient and primitive belief ! This circum- 
stance alone ought to have its weight with sober minded protes- 
tants, and make them re-examine, with modest diffidence, their 
very feeble claim to church antiquity. 

If it were true, that the faith which catholics profess at the 
present day, was not always the faith of the true church, the 
change must have taken place before the days of Eutyches. 
But we have proved under the article Nestorius, that this 
faith was general before the first council of Ephesus, and even 
anterior to that of Nice ; and that even at that early period it 
could not be of recent date. Consequently, the faith of the 
church of Rome is the faith of the primitive christians. Why 
then, may we ask, did the first reformers cause a schism ? 
And why should not the protestants of our times return to the 
communion of that church which, in reality, professes no other 
creed than that of primitive Christianity ? How frivolous, how 
void of common decency and of common sense, is Dr Tillot- 
son's apology for separation ; resting it, as he does, upon the 
pretended difficulty of salvation in the Roman church ! Let 
our readers judge impartially, and seriously consider — on what 
ground they stand. 



CUL 19T 

Cynics — were a sect of philosophers — the followers of Antis- 
thenes — who discarded every rule of morality and decorum. 
The name was given also to the Turlupins, who abandoned 
themselves publicly and without remorse, to the most shameful 
enormities. 

* Culdees — if we may credit Mr Brewster (see the article in the 
British Encyclopedia) — -were a sect of perfect christians esta- 
blished in our British isles, who held at an early period the 
doctrines of protestantism, and particularly Presbyterianism. 
This fanciful progeniture of the reformation we shall not so 
easily concede to the learned, and not much less prejudiced in- 
genuity of its author ; although we conceive, that even should 
we grant him what he wishes to make good, it would follow 
only, that he had discovered an invisible society, brought dowrt 
almost from the apostolic ages through the medium of a few 
scattered individuals, probably, perhaps, by no means certain- 
ly, existing in different parts of Christendom, nearly till the 
dawn of the reformation. What kind of a church by the bye, 
would this constitute ? Such a one, at the very best, as the 
great St Augustine was willing to allow the Donatists to be - y 
cooped up, as he observes, in a corner of the Roman empire, 
while the true church of Christ embraced within its pale a large 
proportion of the then known world. 

But the most probable account of the Culdees states, that 
they were monks who flourished in Ireland and Scotland in the 
middle ages. They were called Culdees, that is, servants of 
God, from the Latin words cultores Dei — because they employ- 
ed much of their time in preaching and teaching, and in prayer. 
No mention is made of them by Nennius in the seventh, or by 
Bede in the eighth age — notwithstanding the confident asser- 
tions of Mr Brewster. They seem not to have been known 
before the ninth century, when we find them at St Andrew's ; 
though we are not ignorant that Hector Boetius, and other 
Scottish writers, pretend them to have been as ancient as Chris- 
tianity itself, in Scotland. In England, they appear never to 
have had any settlement, except at St Peter's, in York. Their 
rule was borrowed from that of St Basil who, every body 
knows, was no Presbyterian. (See Usher's Antiq. Eccl. Brit, 
fol. 333, 334, 346, 638, 659. Collier Eccl. Hist. vol. 1, p. 
1 80 ; and Tanner's Preface to Notitia Monast. Butler's Lives 
of SS. vol. 5, p. 174. Ed. Edin.) 

In the latter ages, the Benedictine and other religious orders 
had several monasteries and provinces in Ireland : but the re- 
gular canons of St Augustine were far the most flourishing in ' 
that country, as the Benedictines were in England. The 
bishops and parsons of Ireland were mostly taken out of their 
body. (Butler, ibid.) What then becomes of Mr Brewster's 



198 CUL 

grand succession of Presbyterians ? The latter gentlemen, 
moreover, do not appear to have had any mighty veneration for 
their supposed monkish ancestry ; since they have uniformly 
treated every thing that had the slightest vestige in it of raona- 
chism — with indignity and contempt. 

Bede indeed, iuforms us, (1. 3, c. 4, Hist. Eccl.) that from 
St Columba, who never was himself made bishop, the whole 
island of Hy — its bishops not excepted — by an unusual law was 
subject to the abbot. Of this passage the Calvinists avail them- 
selves y as if it made against the superiority of bishops in the 
church. But Usher (Antiq. Eccl. Brit, c, 16) justly observes, 
that this superiority was only of civil jurisdiction — not of order. 
For the Ulster annals mention, that this little island had always 
a bishop, resident either in or near the monastery. Also Adam- 
nan, in his life of St Columba (1. 3) says, that St Columba him- 
self refused to officiate at the altar in the presence of a bishop, 
who out of humility had concealed his character ; nor would he 
receive the communion with him ; but through respect for his 
dignity compelled him to celebrate the divine mysteries alone. 
And Bishop Lloyd, in his historical account of church-govern- 
ment, demonstrates, (c. 5, 67) that no other than the episcopal 
was ever established among the Picts, Scots, or Saxons. Vene^ 
ration for St Columba introduced a superiority of civil jurisdic- 
tion over the bishops ; who were chosen from amongst his monks 
and disciples, and retained their former respect for their old 
superior the abbot. Perhaps his princely extraction too, may 
have contributed something towards this extraordinary privilege ; 
which was continued to be enjoyed also by succeeding abbots. 

The unimportance of keeping Easter with these suppositious 
Culdees — at an undue season, in opposition to the practice of the 
universal church, Mr Brewster, doubtless, is better qualified to 
appreciate, than the first general council of Nice, which deemed 
it necessary to require of all christians an acquiescence in this 
particular, under pain of retrenchment from catholic communion. 
Obedience to lawful superiors, Mr Brewster cannot be ignorant, 
is better than sacrifice, and that it is grievous as the sin of witch- 
craft to rebel. Contumacy in this one point — without insisting, 
on the many other still more important charges against these fa- 
vorite Culdees, enumerated by Mr Brewster without a proof, 
would have sufficed completely to do away the merit of their 
otherwise exemplary virtues. If they were not canonically con- 
demned by the catholic church, it was — either because their er- 
rors were not known, or — far more probably — because they 
have existed only in the inventive imagination of late reformers. 
Nor are the words of Bede in his approbation of the maxim 
by which he says, the disciples of St Columba regulated their 
practice, to be taken in their literal protestant sense ; otherwise 
he would never have blamed, as in fact he did even in the great 



13 A V 199 

St Aidan, (1. 3, Hist. Eccl.) — a deviation from the catholic cus- 
tom in keeping Easter. This he is willing to excuse in him, 
only on the ground of inculpable ignorance and unintentional 
insubordination. See more upon the subject in the article 
Quarto-decimans ; also upon episcopacy, in that of Aerius. 

Cyrenaics — appeared about the middle of the second cen- 
tury. They pretended, that we ought not to pray; because 
our blessed Saviour had assured us, he knew what each one stood 
in need of. (Hofman's Lexicon.) 



D 

Dadoes — head of the Messalians. (See that article.) 

David of Dinant — disciple of Amauri whose principles he 
wrote a book to defend. At that time there were still in Franco 
some remnants of the Cathari or Manichees, who denied the au- 
thority of churchmen and rejected the ceremonial institutions toge- 
ther with the sacraments; they called in question — the resurrection, 
the distinction of virtue and vice, and other points of faith; and 
thought they recognised the proofs of their opinions in the sys- 
tem of Amauri, which they accordingly embraced. They pre- 
tended that God the Father had assumed our human nature in 
the person of Abraham, and God the Son in the person of Jesus 
Christ : that the kingdom of Jesus Christ was at an end, and by 
consequence the sacraments were now deprived of their former 
efficacy, and the ministers of God were left without jurisdiction 
and lawful authority, in as much as the reign of the Holy Spirit 
was now come ; and, finally, that religion ought henceforth to 
be confined wholly to the interior. 

Hence these sectaries concluded, that all the actions of the 
body were in themselves indifferent. Indeed, sectarists in gene- 
ral — men for the most part of a character — ardent and impetu- 
ous, and of strong and untamed passions, never fail to deduce 
these consequences from principles like those of Amauri ; and, 
with them, have never been at a loss to justify their most lawless 
excesses. Accordingly the Davidians indulged without restraint 
in every species of licentiousness, and formed a sect which for 
some time practised its infamies in secret, but was at length 
detected by the depositions of some of its supposed proselytes, 
and quickly suppressed by the severity of the laws enforced 
against these lawless miscreants. The memory of Amauri was 
justly stigmatized ; and his bones were taken from the tomb, 



200 DEI 

and burnt to ashes. The works of David of Dinant were also 
committed to the flames. 

David-Georgians — the followers of one David George, a 
glazier, or according to some, a painter of Gand, who after the 
example of other reformers began to dogmatise in 1525. He 
was first an Anabaptist, and then proclaimed himself the Mes- 
siah, commissioned from above to people heaven which, for 
want of persons qualified by their virtues to be admitted there, 
remained empty. This maniac reprobated marriage with the 
Adamites ; denied the resurrection with the Saducees, and with 
Manes, held that sin did not defile the soul. The law of self- 
renunciation established by Jesus Christ, he ridiculed ; esteem- 
ing all pious exercises useless, and reducing all religion to a kind 
of pretended contemplation. He died at Basil, where he went 
by the name of John Bruch, in the year 1556. He left behind 
him some disciples, to whom he had promised, that after three 
years he would rise again ; at the expiration of which term, 
the protest ant magistrates of Basil, informed of the pernicious 
tendency of his errors, caused him in fact to rise again, and 
ordered his remains, together with his impious writings, to be 
burnt by the hands of the common hangman. Some remnants 
of this ridiculous and impure sect are said still to subsist in 
Holstein, particularly at Friderichstadt. The pretended spirit 
of reform produced many other sects equally extravagant and 
impious, and shews what ignorance, combined with hypocrisy 
and fanaticism, is capable of attempting under the sacred plea of 
correcting -abuses in religion. 

Deists — From the Deists themselves we look in vain for an 
adequate definition of Deism. They tell us, that a Deist is 
one who acknowledges the existence of a God, and believes in na- 
tural religion. 

1. To this mutilated definition they should add— -and who 
rejects all revelation. Whoever admits any revelation in reli- 
gion, no longer classes among Deists. 

2. The Deist acknowledges the existence of a God; but of 
what description ? Is it the universal nature of Spinosa, or the 
soul of the universe admitted by the Stoics ; an indolent and 
passive divinity like those of Epicurus, or a vicious one like the 
Pagan gods ; — a God without Providence, or a Supreme Being 
who is the great Creator, the Legislator, and the Judge of 
men ? Hardly shall we find two individual Deists, who are 
agreed upon this solitary article of their very meagre creed. 

3. What do they understand by their natural religion P 
Why, they will tell you — that form of worship which human 
reason left to itself, teaches us to render unto God. But, un- 
fortunately for their fine-spun system, human reason, in fact, 



X> E i 201 

"fcever is left to itself, unless perhaps in the fictitious hypothesis 
of some poor savage — abandoned from his very birth by the 
cruelty of an unnatural parent, to herd with the beasts of the 
forest ; will then the Deist have the goodness to inform us ; — 
what religion in particular would a human creature thus bruti- 
fied adopt ? Most probably his ideas on this head, if any at 
all, would be eccentric as the circumstances of his education. 
If there exist a religion exclusively entitled to the epithet of 
natural, why did not Plato, Socrates, Epicure, and Cicero, 
recognise it equally with the Deists of our day ? For our part, 
we acknowledge ourselves too dull to comprehend — why a religion 
which never had a being upon earth, and never could have been 
devised but by philosophers, enlightened from their early infancy 
through the medium of christian revelation, should of excellence 
be denominated natural, 

4. This chimerical religion consists, say they, in adoring 
God, and living a life of honour and integrity. But — how are we 
to adore God ! Merely by an interior worship, or by sensible 
signs ; — by the Jewish sacrifices, or those of the heathens; — ac- 
cording to the caprice of individuals, or agreeably to some stated 
form ? — All this, it would seem, is matter of indifference in the 
eyes of Deisst ^ and in this hypothesis, all the absurdities, and. 
all the crimes perpetrated through a motive of religion by an- 
cient or more modern infidels, constitute this natural religion of 
Deism. Moreover, all are reputed men of integrity and ho- 
nor, with the Deists, that observe the laws of their country, how- 
ever unjust and unnatural these maybe. The Chinese,for instance, 
■ — in selling, in exposing, and even murdering his children ; 
the Arabian — in plundering and ill-treating strangers; the Alge- 
rine — in pirating on the open seas. If all this is consistent with 
Deistical integrity, their morality is as pliant as their symbol of 
belief. 

Deism, therefore, may fairly be defined — the doctrine of those 
who admit the existence of a God — without explaining their no- 
tions of the divinity ; — a worship without determining its form ; 
—a natural law — without any knowledge of its precepts : and 
who reject revelation without so much as investigating the 
proofs of its existence. In a word, it is a system of irreligion 
without the semblance of conviction,-— the unhallowed privilege 
of believing and of acting as one pleases. If it be pretended, 
that the system is backed with argument, this is mere delusion 5 
it all consists in sophistical objections against revelation,- — in so- 
phistry as shallow and inconclusive, as its doctrine is devoid of 
reason, and destitute of truth. 

The Deists acknowledge protestants to be their progenitors ; 
but think them timid reasoners in not daring to advance — when 
there was no obstacle to impede their progress on their way to 
truth. The first Deists appeared, in fact, immediately after 

c c 



202 DES 

the Socinians, and were previously protestants. In England, 
they began to shew themselves under the protectorship of Crom- 
well, in the midst of the contests between High-churchmen, 
the Puritans and Independents. Their irreligious system passed 
thence into Holland and France, where it quickly generated 
Atheism. For it is a well-known fact, that all the fashionable 
infidels in those countries, after preaching Deism for fifty years, 
ultimately professed the still more impious code of Atheism in 
almost all their succeeding publications. 

DestTvUctionists-— maintain that the wicked shall not be 
tormentedybr ever, but only for a limited duration till they shall 
have suffered punishment apportioned to their crimes; after 
which they shall be finally destroyed. The protestant self-inter- 
preting principle will easily bear them out against the not less 
arbitrary expositions of their brother reformists. They have an 
equal right to put what gloss they please, on those scriptural texts 
which militate in opposition to their respective systems : and 
here we will take our leave of them, and leave them to wrangle 
with each other for the superiority of their individual private 
sense, without the possibility of ever solving the question in de- 
bate — by appealing to their so much boasted rule of faith ; — a 
rule, indeed, confessedly inadequate to establish uniformity of 
doctrine, or to settle the unstable mind in any thing like a well 
grounded security with reference to the vital concern of religious 
orthodoxy. It gives a latitude which every sectarian is at liberty 
to abuse — to the evident endangering of Christianity itself! Its 
votaries are perpetually tossed, to and fro with every wind of dot- 
trine — ever wavering in faith, and adulterating the gospel maxims 
which they once revered as the oracles of truth. If then it be 
asked — what is the rule of faith to christians ? The answer is very 
plain and obvious : Hear the church : for, if lie will not hear the 
church — it is the precept of our Lord, and Saviour (Matt xviii. 
17.) — let him be to the thee as the heathen and the publican. — 
But — how must I recognise this true church in order to submit 
to its unerring guidance ? Its distinctive marks are — unity of 
faith, sanctity of doctrine and morals, catholicity and succession 
from the apostles. These peculiar characters of the church of 
Christ are luminous as the light of heaven : open your eyes ; and, 
in despight of prejudice itself, you must behold it. Consult your 
common creed wherein this church is designated under the odi- 
ous epithet of catholic. In the Nicene symbol too, you profess 
that you believe — one holy, catholic and apostolic church ! Oh ! 
frightful ; bigotry will exclaim ! Do you then refer us to the long 
exploded religion of Boman catholics ? I say not so, unless it 
can be fairly proved — that these two epithets are inseparable. See 
the article Catholics. 



DON 203 

Docetes— those sectaries in globo, who maintained that Jesus 
Christ had not assumed any real body, but only a fantastic one. 
(Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 7, Theodoret, 1. 5, Haeret. Fab.) 

Donatists — commenced a schism in Africa in the year 311, 
and were so called from their leader Donatus. The pretended plea 
for their separation from the catholic church, was — the election of 
Cecilian to the episcopal see of Carthage upon the demise of 
Mensurius. Although the election had been perfectly regular, 
a powerful intrigue set on foot by the silly resentment of a cer- 
tain lady called Lucilla, and supported by the disappointed am- 
bition of Botrus and Celesius who had themselves aspired to that 
dignity, intruded one Majorinus in his place. This extraordi- 
nary procedure they endeavoured to accredit by the plea, that 
the ordination of Cecilian having been performed by Felix of 
Aptongum, whom the schismatical party falsely charged with 
having delivered up the Holy Scriptures and sacred vessels to 
the persecutors, — was consequently null and invalid. The 
bishops who espoused the cause of Majorinus, were headed by 
Donatus of Casas- Nigral 

Pope Melchiades in a council held at Rome, at which assisted 
Maternus of Cologne, Neticius of Autun, and Marinus of Aries, 
together with fifteen Italian bishops ; as also Cecilian and Dona- 
tus, each of them accompanied by ten bishops of their party, 
pronounced in favor of Cecilian. This took place in 3 IS. 

In 3 14 the Donatists were again condemned in a synod at 
Aries, and finally, by an imperial edict of Constantine in 316. 
They now became more obstinate in their schism ; and, to palliate 
their obstinacy, they adopted certain doctrinal errors. In the 
first place, they contended, that the true church had absolutely 
perished, except in those districts of Africa where Donatism was 
professed ; complimenting the catholic church, like our modern 
sectarists, with the honorable epithet of — whore of Babylon, 2. 
That baptism and the other sacraments, administered out of the 
true church, that is, out of their own society, were void and of 
no effect ; and, in conformity with this maxim, they rebaptised 
their proselytes from catholicity. To propagate the sect, every 
species of seduction was employed : dark insinuations, captious 
arguments, open violence ; the most atrocious cruelty, persecution 
and imposture — till such lawless methods of proceeding were 
ultimately suppressed by the just severity of the imperial edicts 
under Constantine and succeeding emperors. 

The Donatists are also designated in ecclesiastial history under 
the names —of Circumcellions, of Urbanists, Petilianists, &c. &c. 
either from some characterizing peculiarities, or from the va- 
rious leaders of the sect who occasionally distinguished them- 
selves. The Circumcellions were likewise denominated Rock- 
men, Mountaineers, &c. and were chiefly wild and ignorant 

cc 2 



20* DON 

country clowns, who, pretending to devote themselves to mar- 
tyrdom, wandered and roamed up and down the country for a 
certain time, pampering themselves as victims fed for the sa- 
crifice, and at length precipitated headlong from the rocks, 
or into rivers, or otherwise put an end to their own existence 5 
which they called martyrdom. Many of them would needs 
compel travellers whom they happened to fall in with, to murder 
them. Some catholics who met them in this strange frenzy, to 
save their own lives, and not imbrue their hands in the blood 
of these fanatics, insisted first upon their being bound, before they 
would proceed to make them martyrs ; and when they were se- 
cured, they beat them soundly till they returned to their senses, 
and were content to live. (See Theodoret, Haeret. Fab.) 

Such are the extravagances into which men are liable to fall, 
when once they have abandoned the paths of truth, and follow 
an its stead the guidance of error and their passions. The 
errors of the sect were combated with success, chiefly by St 
Optatus of Milevum, and the great St Augustine. The former 
observes, that passion was the mother of the schism, ambition the 
nurse, and avarice the champion in the cause : and St Augustine 
remarks in general, on this occasion, that, all who disturb the 
peace of 'the church , do it either blinded by pride, distracted with 
envy, or seduced by worldly interest, soft passions and unruly lust. 
The united efforts of these two great men and most enlighten- 
ed pastors of the church, had given a mortal blow to the Dona- 
tist faction. But it was not totally extinct till after the Vandal 
conquest of Africa, nor even before the seventh century. 

Against these sectaries St Augustine lays down the true prin- 
ciples of the unity, extent and perpetuity of the church. He 
demonstrates, 1st, the falsehood of that doctrine — that sinners 
are not members of the church ; since Jesus Christ compares the 
church to a net in which are enclosed all kinds of fish, both 
good and bad ; — to a field in which tares are mixed with the 
good grain 5 to a barn-floor on which is found chaff together 
with the wheat : and he tells us it shall so remain till the last 
day, when he will separate the good from the bad grain, the 
chaff from the wheat, &c. The sacraments which he instituted 
for the reconciliation of sinners, are themselves a striking proof 
that the latter are within the pale of the church. 2nd. He 
shows that the Donatists were palpably in error — to suppose 
that the catholic and universal church could be cooped up in a 
corner of Africa, confined within the limits of their own sect, 
and not diffused, more or less, over the whole christian world, as it 
was in fact at the period in question ; the greater part of Europe, 
Asia, and even Africa itself, being then catholic. 3rd. He 
shews the absurdity of the idea— that the sacraments were null 
when administered by prevaricating priests or bishops. For the 
efficacy of the sacraments depends not upon the interior dispo- 



D U N' 20$ 

sitions of the person who confers them : it is Jesus Christ him- 
self that baptises and absolves by the organ even of a wicked 
minister. 4th. St Augustine teaches, that the unity of the church 
consists in the profession of one and the same faith ; in the par- 
ticipation of the same sacraments ; in submission to its legiti- 
mate pastors. This unity, he says, it is never lawful to disturb 
by schism. And these principles are applicable equally to every 
age ; they alike condemn all the various sects that ever have 
relinquished the communion of the catholic church. Nothing 
but inculpable ignorance can excuse any one that refuses to em- 
brace it. 

Dositheus — See Simon the Magician. 

Dualists — a name given to those who maintained, that in 
the universe there are two eternal and necessary principles ; one 
of them the efficient cause of all good, the other author of all 
evil. See the articles Marcion and Manes. 

Dulcinus — the disciple of the infamous Segarel, and, after 
his master's death, himself the leader of the sect called Aposto- 
lics. (Seethe article.) 

Dunkers (or Tunkers) — first appeared about the year 1721, 
chiefly in Pennsylvania. Their dress resembles that of the Do- 
minican friars: they never shave their beard, have different 
apartments for the sexes, and live principally on roots and vege- 
tables, except at their love feasts when they eat only mutton. 
No bed is allowed them but in case of sickness, having in their 
respective cells a bench to lie upon, and a block of wood for their 
pillow. Their principal tenet is the mortification of the body ; 
and they deny the eternity of punishment. They are commonly 
called the harmless Dunkers. This account is given of them in 
the Sketch of Mr Evans. They seem to be ambitious of rival- 
ling in austerity of life — some of the religious orders in the Roman 
catholic church : it would be well if they copied also their ortho- 
doxy of belief. 

As to what regards the eternity of punishment — it is one of 
those articles which, being incomprehensible to human rea- 
son, our faith commands us to receive with an humble submis- 
sion of our understanding to revealed truth. Here to reason is 
— to risk our being lost in the unfathomable abyss of the 
Divine immensity; and it is our only secure way to follow 
in this, as in all other doctrines of revelation, the unerring guid- 
ance of that church, which Christ himself enjoins us all to ^ear- 
under pain of being looked upon as heathens or incorrigible 
sinners. Thus we shall avoid the rash presumption of too curi- 
ously prying into the umsaroIiaUs way$ of God. Incomprehen* 



206 E L C 

sibie are his judgments ; and >who 9 exclaims the royal psalmist, 
shall be able to recount the mightiness of thy "wrath I (Ps. 89.) 



Ebionites — a word which in Hebrew signifies poor, and was 
appropriated to a sect of men who had adopted the sentiments 
of the Nazareans, adding certain practices and doctrines peculiar 
to themselves. For instance, the Nazareans received all the 
books of the ancient Testament comprised in the canon of the 
Jews ; while the Ebionites rejected all the prophets ; held in 
abomination the names of David, of Solomon, of Jeremy and 
Ezechiel ; and, of all the books of holy scripture, they admitted 
only the Pentateuch. Origen distinguishes two sorts of Ebio- 
nites, and informs us, that some among them held with the 
Nazareans, that Christ was born of a virgin ; the rest maintain- 
ed, that he had been brought into the world in the same man- 
ner precisely, as were other men. One branch of the Ebionites 
were strictly temperate and chaste, while another refused to 
admit into their communion any person unmarried, although 
not yet arrived at the age of puberty. These moreover prac- 
tised polygamy, though they scrupled to touch any animal food, 
or even any thing derived from animals, as milk, eggs, &c. 
They received, in common with the Nazareans, the gospel ac- 
cording to St Matthew, but in many places adulterated ; and 
among a variety of other corruptions, they had retrenched the 
genealogy of Christ, which the Nazareans had retained. Be- 
sides the Hebrew gospel of St Matthew, the Ebionites had 
adopted many other books as scripture under the names of 
James, John and other apostles, and also the apocryphal voyages 
of St Peter. (Origen con. Cels. Epiph. Hser. 20. Iren. 1. c. 
20. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 3, c. 27.) 

Elcesaites, Ossonians or Sampseans— were a sect of fanatics 
who jumbled together a few ideas of Christianity — with the errors 
of the Ebionites, the principles of judicial astrology, and the 
practice of the black art ; the invocation of demons, witchcraft, 
and the observance of the Jewish ceremonial law. With them, 
we must not look for consistency or connection. They adored — 
after all — only one God, and thought they did him mighty 
honor by plunging into the bath several times in the day : they 
acknowledged one Christ, one Messiah whom they called the 
Great King. It is not known whether they held Jesus to be 
this Messiah, or some other not yet arrived. But they attribut- 



eoi *m 

«d to him a human form, although invisible, and a stature of 
about thirty-eight leagues. They concluded, that the Holy 
Ghost was a female, because the word in Hebrew is of the fe- 
minine gender, and for fear they should otherwise be obliged to 
ascribe two fathers to Jesus Christ. 

Under the emperor Trajan a Jew named Elxai embraced their 
sect, and composed a book of prophecies, which, he assured 
them, contained wisdom divine. The Elcesaites imagined it had 
dropped from heaven. Elxai himself was honored by the sect 
as a Puissance revealed^ and predicted by the prophets; his 
name in the Hebrew tongue signifying revealed :- they revered all 
his progeny even to adoration, and deemed it a sacred duty to 
die for them. So low as the reign of Valens two sisters of the 
race of Elxai, or the blessed race, still survived : their names 
were Martha and Martenna ; and they were worshipped by the 
Elcesaites as goddesses. When they went abroad they were at- 
tended in crouds by these ridiculous enthusiasts, who industri- 
ously collected the dust of their feet, and even caught the spittle 
from their mouth : these precious relics they preserved with reli- 
gious veneration, and carried them about with them in boxes as 
sovereign preservatives against misfortune. (Epiph. Hasr. 19.) 

Encratites. See Tatian. 

Eon i)E l'Eioile — was a native of Britanny, and flourished 
in the twelfth age. At that epoch the Latin word EUM was 
pronounced EON, and the choir, instead of singing Per eum 
qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, intoned Per eon qui 
venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos. This pronunciation at- 
tracted the notice of Eon de l'Etoile ; and it struck him very 
forcibly, that he was himself the identical character alluded to, 
and that of course he should come again to judge the quick and 
the dead, and by consequence, — was the Son of God. He pub- 
lishes this ridiculous conceit; and the silly vulgar gives it full 
credit ; attends him in crouds through divers provinces of 
France, and marks its progress with the despoliation, both of pri- 
vate property and, particularly, of religious communities. Eon 
allotted to his disciples their respective rank and dignity. Some 
were angels ; others apostles. One was denominated Wisdom jj 
another Judgment ; a third Domination or Science ; and why not 
a fourth, as in Cromwell's religious army, Praise-God-Bare- 
bones ? Several puissant lords had repeatedly dispatched a 
force to apprehend this infatuated enthusiast, but to little pur- 
pose. For Eon had the address, by courteous treatment and 
well timed liberalities, to avert the danger. It was confidently 
given out and generally credited, that he was a conjurer and a 
magician ; and that it was not in the power of man to seize his 
person. However, the archbishop of Rheims succeeded in the 



208 E P I 

desperate attempt ; and then, it was supposed the demons had 
forsaken him. This prelate caused him to appear before the 
council convoked at Rheims by Eugenius III. against the novel 
doctrines of Gilbert of Porea. Eon was declared lunatic, and 
sent to the asylum. But Judgment and Science, and some few 
more of his disciples who remained incorrigible in their folly, 
were sentenced to the stake. (See d'Argentre Collect. Jud. 
^Natal. Alex, in ssec. 12. Dup. bibliot. douzieme siecle.) 

In this ignorant and besotted age, while one part of the peo- 
ple was seduced by Eon de TEtoile, Peter Bruys, Tanchelin, and 
a croud of other fanatics propagated their respective errors, and 
excited the flock against their lawful pastors; and theologians 
were busily employed in their schools in discussing subtle ques- 
tions of divinity, and disputed with much asperity on points of 
trifling significance and metaphysical minutiae. The people, too 
ignorant to interfere in these scholastic contests, were in other 
respects very ill instructed in religious knowledge, and ever open 
to the seduction of the first impostor who thought it worth his 
while to mislead them ; and Unfortunately, of characters of this 
description, in an age of ignorance there is seldom any scarcity. 

Epiphanius — See Carpocratians, 

Episcopalians — an appellation appropriated chiefly to the 
members of the church of England. They insist much on the 
divine origin of their bishops, and clerical ordination. Their 
present doctrines are set forth in thirty-nine articles established 
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and ordinarily to be found in 
their book of Common Prayer ; although their sister episcopalian 
church of America has curtailed the number to twenty. In 
Scotland, since the revolution in favour of William III. and the 
house of Brunswick, a large proportion of Episcopalians, and 
no small number of them even in England, through their firm 
attachment to the Stuart family, long refused to acknowledge 
the new settlement, and were denominated non-jurors- — until the 
decease of the Pretender whom they stiled Prince Charles, in 
1788 ; when they thought fit to tender their allegiance to the 
reigning sovereign. Since that period the odious distinction of 
non-juror has been done away. 

Of the Episcopalians, or the church of England, the king is 
recognised as supreme head : there are two archbishops and 
twenty-four bishops : each prelate has a seat in the house of 
peers, with the exception only, of the bishop of Sodor and Man. 
The established church in Ireland is the same with that in 
England. Four only, out of eighteen bishops and four arch- 
bishops, who constitute the protestant prelacy in that kingdom 
since its union with Great Britain* sit in the house of lords, 
assembled at Westminster. 



EUS 209 

Of the conflicts, the vicissitudes and variations of Episcopa- 
lianism, we will here say nothing ; and shall only beg leave to 
refer our readers to the articles — Luther, the Reformation, 
Ward's Cantos, &c. &c. 

The peculiar merits of the church of England above the other 
reformed churches, a well-known poet accurately discriminates. 
It is in his ideas — 

The least de-formed, because re-formed the least. 



Eschinists — See the article Montanus. 

Euchites, or Eutychites — disciples of Simon Magus, who 
pretended that the human soul had assumed a material body, 
for no other end than the gratification of the most infamous 
voluptuousness. This was the impious conceit of the Antitactae 
also, and the Cainites. See their respective articles. (Theodo- 
ret, Haer. Fab. 1. 5, c. 9.) The Messalians also were termed 
Euchites. See that article. 

Eunomians, called also Anomians — the disciples of Euno- 
mius, a noted Arian bishop, who denied the divinity both of 
the Son and the Holy Ghost. Baptism he ordered to be con- 
ferred — in the name of the Father wibegotten, — of the Son who 
was begotten, — and of the Holy Ghost, the creature of the se- 
cond person. He rejected the triple immersion then customary 
in the church, and caused the head and breast only of the party 
baptised to be dipped in the font, esteeming the remainder of 
the body as infamous, and absolutely unworthy of the sacrament. 
To his other principles he added the very commodious one im- 
porting — that those who should faithfully observe his doctrine, 
were not liable to forfeit grace, whatever guilt they might incur, 
even that of final impenitence. (Theodoret, Heeret. Fab. 1. 4, 
c. 3. Aug. de Haer. Epiph. Her. 76. Baron, ad ann. 356.) 
Did then this right reverend of old prognosticate in the spirit 
— the justification inamissible of Mr Calvin ? The sect did not 
survive the reign of Theodosius II. (Codex Theod. 1. 8.) 

Euphratesians — (See Pereans.) 

Eusebians — Arians, so called from Eusebius of Nicomedia, 
one of the most zealous partisans of Arius. See Arians. 

Eustathians — sectarists of the fourth age who, like their 
master Eustathius, denied salvation to be attainable in any other 
but the monastic state. In the council of Gangres, held to- 
wards the beginning of the fourth century, these sectaries are cen- 

D d 



210 E V T 

sured— 1. For condemning matrimony, and encouraging wives? 
to forsake their husbands. 2. For abandoning the churches — to 
resort to their private conventicles. 3. For engaging servants 
to quit their masters, and children their parents, under the spe- 
cious pretence of embracing a more austere method of life. 4. 
For obliging their followers to renounce all property as incompa- 
table with salvation. 5. For condemning the honor paid t© 
martyrs in the oratories erected to their memory ; — with other 
erroneous doctrines, prescribed and anathematized by the council 
in twenty canons inserted in Dupin's Collection of the Canons 
of the universal Church. (See also Fleury, t. 4, 1. 17.) What 
a pity these enthusiasts did not agree with our modern reformers 
in other articles, as well as that relating to the honor exhibited to 
martyrs ! Had they been so fortunate, they would have figured 
among the foremost in the protestant calendar of reformers, or 
among Mr Brewster's presby terian Culdees. 

EuTychians — followers of Eutyches, who, in the fifth age, 
pretended that in Jesus Christ there was only one nature. The 
intemperate zeal of this monk against Nestorianism, hurried him 
into the opposite extreme ; and, for fear of admitting two dis- 
tinct persons in Christ, he held only one nature or a species of 
compound — of the Divinity and the humanity combined. He 
would not allow the body of Jesus Christ to be of the same sub- 
stance with ours ; and, of course, he attributed to the Son of 
God, with the Valentinians and the Marcionites, only a fantastic 
body. Sometimes, indeed, he seemed to recognise two natures 
before the incarnation, and to suppose, that the soul of our Re- 
deemer was united to the Divinity previously to his assuming a 
human body : but he constantly refused to acknowledge a dis- 
tinction of the two natures — after the incarnation had taken 
place, pretending that the human nature was absorbed by the 
divinity, as a drop of honey falling into the sea might be said — 
not indeed to be annihilated, but to be swallowed up, and no 
longer distinguishable from the watery element. 

In a council held by St Flavian patriarch of Constantinople in 
448, this error was condemned. Eutyches appeared before the 
council attended by two of the principal officers of the court, and 
a troop of the imperial guards. To all reasoning and authority 
produced against his novel doctrine, he replied, that he was come 
thither — not to dispute, but to profess his faith. The council 
proceeded to separate him from the communion of the faithful ; 
and the sentence was subscribed by thirty-two bishops, and 
eighteen priests. Eutyches said privately to his guards, that he 
appealed from their judgment to that of the bishops of Rome, 
Alexandria and Jerusalem ; and by letter endeavoured to impose 
upon the pope. But his holiness St Leo the Great, being in- 
formed of the true state of the affair by St Flavian, wrote to him 
an ample declaration of the orthodox faith upon the article iti 



EUT 211 

question, which was afterwards read and inserted in the acts of 
the council of Chalcedon; and in which the errors of Eutyches 
were solemnly condemned. 

The false council of Ephesus commonly called Latrocinale, or 
the cabal, by court intrigue was opened on the eighth of August, 
in 449. Eutyches was there ; — as were also two officers from 
the emperor, with a band of soldiers. Every thing was carried 
by violence and open faction in favour of Eutyches ; and the 
pope's legates were not allowed , to read his letters to the assem- 
bly. By Eutyches's partisans a sentence of deposition was pro- 
nounced against St Flavian and Eusebius of Dorylceum. The 
legates protested against the lawless sentence. Hilarius the 
deacon cried out aloud, contradicitur — importing — opposition is 
made ; which Latin word was inserted in the Greek acts of the 
synod. Several of the bishops, prostrate at the feet of Diosco- 
rus the wicked patriarch of Alexandria, while he was reading 
up the sentence, besought him in the most submissive terms to 
proceed no farther in so unwarrantable an affair. He called 
aloud for the imperial commissioners Elpidius and Eulogius, 
who instantly set open the church doors ; when Proclus, the 
pro-consul of Asia, rushed in surrounded with a troop of sol- 
diers, and followed by a confused multitude — with chains, 
clubs and swords. Few or none of the faint-hearted prelates 
had now the courage to withhold their subscription to the mea- 
sures of Dioscorus, except the pope's legates, who protested 
aloud against his violent proceedings. One of them was hurried 
off to prison ; the other (Hilarius) with much difficulty effected 
his escape, and arrived safe at Rome. Flavian appealed from 
the unjust sentence pronounced against him, to the holy see ; 
and delivered his appeal in writing to the legates, with his own 
hand. The impious Dioscorus, and others of his faction, after 
throwing the holy bishop on the ground, so kicked and bruised 
him, that he died of his wounds in the course of a few days, 
in his exile at Ephippus, two days journey from Ephesus. 
After this, Dioscorus, with two of his Egyptian bishops, had the 
insolence to excommunicate St Leo. But violence and injustice 
did not triumph long ; and the emperor's eyes being opened to 
discern the fatal consequences of his own credulity, he disgraced 
those who had so grossly abused his confidence, and patronised 
the cause of truth. The wicked Dioscorus was anathematized 
by the general council of Chalcedon in 451, and died impeni- 
tent in the Eutychian heresy and his other crimes, in his 
banishment at Gangres, in 454. With regard to Eutyches 
himself, he passed some time in exile, obstinately attached to 
his erroneous system. History speaks of him no more from the 
period just mentioned ; but his sectaries long survived the exit 
of their author. The emperor Zeno suffering himself to be se- 
duced by the Eutychians, the three first patriarchates of the 

Dd 2 



212 EUT 

East, in 482 fell a prey to intruders of that sect- Alexandria 
was occupied by Peter Mongus, Antioch by Peter the Fuller, 
and Constantinople by Aeacius, These men indeed did not 
exactly coincide with Eutyches, but professed a kind of quali- 
fied Eutychianism ; teaching that the divine and human nature 
were so intimately united, as to form in reality but one compound 
nature, perfectly simple and inconfused ! This doctrine, un- 
intelligible and inconsistent as it was, the major part of the Euty- 
chians adopted ; and, from this epoch they are generally de- 
nominated Monophusites ; reprobating alike the doctrine of 
Eutyches, and that of the council of Chalcedon. 

Zeno, by the advice of Aeacius, with the specious pretence 
of reconciling all parties, published in the course of the same 
year, 482, his famous decree of union termed the Henoticon, 
addressed to the bishops, clergy and people of Egypt and Lybia. 
As this decree insinuated a charge injurious to the council of 
Chalcedon, it was universally rejected by the catholics, and 
condemned by Pope Felix III. in the ensuing year. A party 
of Monophusites relinquished the communion of their fellow- 
sectaries, and were termed Acephali, or without a leader. But 
it was not long before they found a patron and defender, in the 
person of Anasiasius the emperor. The monk Severus was 
placed in the patriarchal see of Antioch ; and from him the 
faction took the name of Severians. In 518 Anastasius was 
succeeded in the empire by Justin, a catholic prince ; who ex- 
erted himself to the utmost in extinguishing the entire sect of the 
Monophusites. The latter, notwithstanding, found means not 
long afterwards to repair with advantage the losses of their 
party. 

A small number of bishops still adhered to it, and placed a 
monk called Jacob Baradaeus, an ignorant but enterprising 
bigot to the cause, in the episcopal see of Edessa. This new 
apostle traversed in his fanaticism the provinces of the East ; 
united the jarring partisans of Eutychianism, animated their 
drooping spirits, and established among them bishops and a 
clergy. Thus by his extraordinary exertions in favour of this 
heresy, it regained its former influence in Syria, Mesopotamia, 
Armenia 5 in Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia. Ever since this epoch, 
the Monophusites have honored Jacob Baradaeus (alias Zanzala) 
as their second founder ; and from him they derive their name 
of Jacobites. Patronised by the Persians, out of enmity to the 
Constantinopolitan emperors their persecutors, and afterwards 
by the Mahometans on the same account, their spread was both 
rapid and extensive. Before their regeneration, they were di- 
vided into ten or twelve discordant branches, and were various- 
ly denominated — Caianists, Incorrupticolae, Aphthartodocetae, 
Damianites, Severians, Agnoetae, Philoponists, &c. from their 
several enthusiastic leaders, or the circumstances of their dis- 
agreement. After the death of Severus, Baradaeus ordained one 



EUT 21S 

Paul bishop of Antioch, from whom a regular series of Jacobite 
bishops have borne that title to the present period. The pa- 
triarchate of Antioch included all Cilicia, the two Phcenicias, 
Mesopatamia, Isauria, Euphratissia and Osroenia; and in all 
these provinces the Jacobin party was the most numerous, al- 
though the imperial decrees enforced among them — under the 
severest penalties — the doctrine of the council of Chalcedon. 
Vast numbers, in consequence, emigrated into Persia and Ara- 
bia, where every sect indiscriminately, which had been perse-, 
cuted by the Roman emperors, found a secure asylum and un- 
limited toleration. Many who still remained and had sub- 
scribed to the articles of the synod, embraced externally the 
communion of the church, while they inwardly abhorred it, and 
formed in the very heart of the empire a formidable party of 
concealed enemies. The Persians took advantage of their dis- 
affection, and broke impetuously into the Roman territories; 
from which they severed many extensive provinces. The Jaco- 
bites on this occasion were patronised by the conquerors ; nor 
were the Saracens less favourable, when they subverted the em- 
pire of the Persians. Thus the Jacobites became the trium- 
phant party under these new masters, while the catholics were 
every where discountenanced and oppressed. The Mono- 
phusite patriarch established missions throughout the oriental 
provinces, and thus perpetuated in those nations the doctrines 
of his sect. The same causes operated similar effects in Egypt 
and in Abyssinia. See the articles — Abyssinians and Cophts. 

The Jacobites however, sometimes had their share of persecu- 
tion, in common with the professors of Christianity in general, 
even under the Persian and Saracen autocracy ; just as the ava- 
rice or fanaticism of their despotic masters inclined : and great 
numbers of both Jacobites and catholics apostatized to Maho- 
metism. In fact, there exists not at this day one single christian 
family in all Nubia- 

The pope had established a patriarch at Antioch, while the 
princes of the West were in possession of Syria, during which 
period the Jacobites seemed disposed to a reconciliation with the 
church of Rome ; although it did not actually take place. The 
Latin patriarchs resided at Antioch till its subjugation by the 
Mussulmans in the year 1267. At this day there are two patri- 
archs of Antioch ; the one catholic, the other monophysist ; 
each of whom have their respective suffragans. The Jacobites 
have likewise churches wherever the Nestorians are established 5 
and these two sects, for so many ages at drawn daggers with 
each other, now fraternize, and seem to have forgot the origin of 
their former animosity. 

The Jacobites acknowledge only one nature in Jesus Christ, 
reject the council of Chalcedon, and condemn the letter of St 
Leo ; though they do not hold with Eutyches, that the divine and 



•214 E U T 

human nature are confounded In the person of our blessed Re- 
deemer ; and are rather to be classed with the Acephali, whose 
peculiar merit was — violent opposition to the council. They ad- 
mit all the sacraments of the Roman catholic church, with the 
variation only of certain practices in the mode of administration. 
Some have falsely charged them with errors respecting the blessed 
Trinity, the origin of human souls, and other articles ; and 
though they have precisely the same faith which the council of 
Chalcedon proposes for their rule, mere prejudice obliges them 
rather to suffer death than subscribe to its decrees. They are 
great fasters; and, in the austerity of their fasts they seem to make 
a great part of the gospel perfection to consist. Many of them 
have been known, for a long succession of years, to have eaten 
nothing during Lent, but the leaves of the olive. Some of their 
monks live in communities ; others in deserts, and others again, 
like certain ancient saints, on the tops of pillars. Their superi- 
ors are themselves subordinate to the bishops. Assemanni in his 
Oriental Library, t. 2, has given us a list of their most eminent 
writers, philosophers and theologians ; among whom many have 
attained to excellence. The sect itself — formerly so numerous, 
is at the present day, very inconsiderable, excepi in Abyssinia, 
See the article Abyssinians. 

It will not be denied, that in the council of Chalcedon the 
sessions were attended with some tumult and disorder. But, if 
the Holy Ghost presided not over its decisions, we should be 
glad to be informed — how men, infuriated by passion and divid- 
ed into factions, — all intent upon enforcing their own respective 
opinions, and devoting their adversaries to damnation, eventual- 
ly united in condemning the intrigues of party, and in reprobat- 
ing unanimously the opposite errors of Eutychianism and Nesto- 
rianism ! In this instance, so clearly recognisable are the influ- 
ences of the Holy Spirit, that any other reply to the impassioned 
declamations ofBasnage and other enemies of the Chalcedonian 
synod, would be perfectly superfluous. 

The council declares that, conformably to the writings of the 
holy fathers, it professes a belief in one Jesus Christ our Lord, 
the Son of God ; perfect God and perfect man j consubstantial 
with the Father according to the Godhead, and with us men 
according to the humanity : that in him are two natures — with- 
out division, without separation, without change ; for as much 
as the properties of the two natures subsist and harmonize in one 
and the same person ; — who is not divided into two, but is one 
only Jesus Christ the Son of God, as it is declared in the Nicene 
creed. — This formula was approved unanimously by the whole 
council ; in which the church taught— against Nestorius, that in 
Jesus Christ there was but one person ; and — against Eutyches, 
that in the same divine person were united two distinct natures. 



F I F '215 



Familists or Family of Love — the name of a sect which 
pretended that perfection and religion consisted in charity alone, 
independently of faith and hope, which they considered as im- 
perfections. This charity, according to them, exalted men above 
the laws and rendered them incapable of sinning. One Henry 
Nicolas of Minister was author of the sect. At first he modest- 
ly assumed the character of prophet, but soon proclaimed him- 
self to be a person deified. Nor would this suffice ; he deemed 
himself a greater personage than Jesus Christ who, he said, was 
nothing more than a type or figure of himself. About the year 
1540, he attempted to seduce the famous Theodore Volkart, 
with whom he had many unsuccessful interviews. When Theo- 
dore's arguments were like to prove too strong, he appealed to 
the Spirit which, he said, commanded him to hold his peace. 
The enthusiast, notwithstanding, made many silly proselytes, who 
all like their master were willing to be accounted of divine ori- 
gin- 
Henry composed some books; for instance — those entitled 
The Gospel of the Kingdom, The Land of Peace, &c. The 
sect was admitted into our Island of Saints towards the com- 
mencement of the seventeenth century, and in 1604 presented to 
King James a Confession of Faith, in which they declare they 
do not hold communion with the Brownists, and profess a rea- 
diness to obey the magistracy whatever may be their religious 
principles. George Fox, himself the very fanatic author of Qua- 
kerism, inveighed aloud against this Family of Love, and compli- 
mented them with the title of Fanatics ; because, said he, they 
did not scruple to take oaths, to dance, to sing, and to be mer- 
ry. Serious charges these, and very scandalous to their rivals 
in fanaticism at the present day ! 

Felix of Urgel. See Adoptionists. 

Fifth-Monarchy-men — a turbulent sect in the days of 
Oliver Cromwell. They pretended, that Jesus Christ was on 
the point of establishing upon earth & fifth monarchy, alluded to 
by the prophet Daniel j and, with this persuasion, they resolved 
to overturn the existing government, and to substitute in lieu of 
it absolute anarchy. (Mosheim, Eccles. Hist.) A striking in- 
ttance, among so many others equally extravagant — of the 
dangerous fanaticism produced in England by the unrestricted 
liberty of reading and interpreting Holy Scripture according to 
each one's fancy or private spirit. 



216 FRA 

Flagellants — a name given to a kind of penitentialists who 
pretended, that self-discipline or flagellation remitted sin — equally 
with baptism. The sect originated in 1260, from one Reinerius 
at Perusia. This man undertook to preach up penance to the 
people, and taught them with that view — to use the discipline. 
In 1349, on occasion of the blaek pestilence which had desolated 
Europe, the sect was propagated through Poland, Germany, 
France, Italy and England. They had crosses in their hands 
and a cowl upon their head, and went naked to the waist j 
lashed themselves publicly twice a-day, and once in the night — 
with knotted cords stuck with the points of pins ; and then fell 
prostrate [on the ground, imploring aloud the Divine Mercy. 
From this singularity which, doubtless, at first proceeded from a 
true spirit of penitence, they fell into a gross heresy, affirming 
that their blood — united with that of Christ in such a manner, 
as to have the same efficacy; that after thirty days whipping, 
they were acquitted from the guilt and punishment of sin, and 
needed not the sacraments; persuading the deluded multitude 
that the gospel had ceased ; — with other similar impieties. This 
phrensy continued a long time, notwithstanding the censures of 
the church, and the edicts of christian princes for its suppression. 

In Italy, Spain and Germany, there still exist certain con- 
fraternities, in which the discipline is used as an instrument of 
penance, but which bear no resemblance in any other respect, 
with the sectaries just mentioned. When this practice is adopt- 
ed purely through a sincere regret for having offended Almighty 
God, and with the desire of appeasing the divine justice, be- 
yond all doubt it is innocent, and, in due circumstances, even 
commendable : but if performed in public, there is great danger 
of its degenerating into bare ceremony and hypocrisy, instead 
of contributing in any degree to the reformation of morals. 

Fratricelli, or Frerots — names given indiscriminately to 
a multitude of sects which inundated Europe in the thirteenth 
century. These sects fell into the most horrid disorders ; re- 
newed the infamies of the Gnostics and the Adamites ; pretend- 
ed that neither Christ himself nor his apostles had observed 
continence ; and that they all had wives of their own, or, what 
is still more blasphemous, those of other people. Some of these 
fanatics were not ashamed to maintain, that incest and adultery 
were no crimes when perpetrated by their fellow sectaries. The 
greater part, extremely ignorant, imagined the whole perfection 
of a christian to consist in a state of absolute poverty and men- 
dicity ; the profession of which was the distinctive character of 
the sect. Their original authors were certain refractory Fran- 
ciscans, who, with the specious plea of practising more perfect- 
ly the religious institutes of St Francis, separated from their 
brethren, and lived an idle vagabond life, John XXII. repro- 



GRE 217 

bated their pretensions, and fulminated a sentence of excommu- 
nication against themselves and their abettors. In revenge, 
they spurned the pope's authority, and leagued themselves with 
those princes who happened to be at variance with the spiritual 
head of the church. On this account, we suppose, have pro- 
testants been induced to adopt these wretched libertines as the 
predecessors of their reformation. Nor do catholics envy them 
the honour. 

Frerots — See the above article, Fratricelli. 



GN0SiMAcm-*-Sectaries of the seventh age, who reprobated 
every kind of useful research after knowledge and the sciences, 
even to the study of the holy scriptures ; because, said they, 
God requires virtuous actions in the faithful, and not science. 
This conceit was renewed by the Abecedarians. See their ar- 
ticle. 

Gnostics, or the Illumined — were an impious sect of the 
first or second age, divided into various branches ; some of which 
were denominated from their respective authors, Simonians, 
Valentinians, Basilidians, Carpocratians, Sethians, Nicolaites, 
Ophites, &c. &c. To these sectarists, St Paul seems to allude 
in different parts of his epistles. (See, for instance, 1 Tim. c. 
6, v. 20.) They believed in two first principles ; the one good 
and the principle of good ; the other bad, and the author of 
evil. They held the human soul to be the very substance of the 
Divinity ; while they denied Christ to be God, although they 
acknowledged that the Divinity resided in him. They justified 
the most criminal excesses, and practised them without a blush ; 
defiling their nocturnal assemblies with every species of obscene 
gratification. 

Godescalcus — See Predestin ari anism. 

Gomarists — See Arminians. 

Greek Church — consists of those christians who still ad- 
here to the schism first commenced by the ambitious patriarch 
of Constantinople, Photius ; and afterwards renewed in 1053 
by the no less ambitious Cerularius, one of his successors in that 
patriarchate, on pretences equally frivolous and capricious. 

£ e 



21* GRE 

Cerularius, and Leo Bishop of Acrida, wrote a joint letter to 
John bishop of Trani in Apulia, in which they objected 
against the catholics of the Western or Latin church, — that they 
celebrated the holy eucharist in unleavened bread ; fasted on the 
Saturdays in Lent ; scrupled not to eat blood ; omitted the 
Alleluias during the Lenten term ; and other trivial points of dis- 
cipline. (See Cerularius^ letter, and Sigeb. de Script, c. 349.) 
Malice must be to the last degree extravagant, to ground a 
schism and defection from the catholic communion, upon such 
trifling exceptions ! St Leo IX. who then sate in St Peter's 
chair, answered by an exhortation to peace ; alleging for these 
practices of discipline the ancient law and tradition from St 
Peter, especially for the use of unleavened bread in the eucha- 
rist. He dispatched a legate to Constantinople, with a learned 
and ample apology, composed by himself against the excep- 
tions of the Greeks, in order to preserve them in union with 
the Latin church ; but was not able to overcome the obstinacy 
of Cerularius, whose influence and intrigues drew the greater 
part of the Oriental churches into his schism ; in which, barring 
some short intervals of re-union, they have continued to the 
present day. Cerularius himself having also, by his factious 
spirit, embroiled the state, was 'driven into exile ; and closed 
a criminal and restless life in misery and despair. (See Ba- 
ronius, Curopallat. Psellus. Zonar. &c.) 

The Greek church professes, with the exception only of the 
spiritual supremacy of the pope, and the procession of the Holy 
Ghost from the Father and the Son, — all the articles of faith 
maintained by the Latin or the Roman church. (See Petri 
Arcudii Concordia Eccles. Oriental, et Occidental. Allatius, de 
Eccles. Occidental, et Oriental, perpetua consensione. Censura 
Oriental. Eccles. de praecipuis nostri saaculi haereticorum dog- 
matibus. Perpet. de la Foi, t. 3, 1. 9. Ricot. Hist, of the pre- 
sent state of the Greek church, c. 3, p. 91, &c.) 

Some protestant theologists of the seventeenth century scrupled 
not to affirm, that the Greeks exactly coincided in sentiment 
with themselves in regard of the divers points of controversy be- 
tween protestants and catholics. The learned authors of the 
work entitled La Perpetuite de la Foi de VEglise % Catholique 
touchant VEucharistie, 5 vol. in-4to, have with much diligence 
and fidelity collected the various monuments ascertaining the 
religious creed of the Greek church. Such are, for instance, in 
the first place — the testimony of the different authors of that 
communion, who have flourished since the ninth century, when 
the schism first commenced ; secondly, — the professions of faith 
of many bishops, metropolitans and patriarchs j — the definitions 
of two or three synods held expressly for the purpose, and the 
attestations of several Russian prelates : — and in the third place — 
the liturgies, euchologies and other ecclesiastic records of the 



ORE 219 

Greeks. By all these authentic documents they have triumph- 
antly demonstrated, that in every age, as at the present day, the 
Greeks have constantly admitted with the church of Rome — 
seven sacraments, and ascribed to them the same efficacy of con- 
ferring grace to the worthy receiver ; that they maintain the 
real presence in the most blessed sacrament ; trans ubstantiation — 
not consubstantiation, as some have erroneously asserted ; and 
the sacrifice of the mass : that they practise the invocation of 
saints ; honor their relics, and their images ; approve the custom 
of praying for the dead ; observe religious vows, &c. This fact 
amounts to an unquestionable proof, that the articles of religious 
dispute between the protestants and Roman catholics, have not 
originated in the latter ages, as they affect to believe ; since these 
very doctrines are professed and maintained by the Greeks their 
inveterate enemies ; whose rancorous animosity, most certainly, 
would never have permitted them to borrow from the Latin 
church — any part of their system of belief. The realization of 
such an hypothesis would be attended with equal difficulty, as 
would their total reconciliation ; nor have they been ever known 
to sacrifice the most trivial point of difference to promote the cause 
of peace, and christian charity. The unanimity of these and 
other ancient schismatics in condemning the protestant doctrines, 
evinces this truth ; — that the tenets of their respective religions 
which at this present time so strikingly accord with those of the 
church of Rome, were the genuine doctrines of the universal 
church twelve hundred years ago ; — a prescription, one would 
imagine, more than sufficient to command the respect of every 
thinking christian. 

With regard to the contested doctrine of the papal supremacy, 
we must beg leave to observe — that the church is a society ; 
that she has her peculiar laws and form of worship, and regular 
discipline ; her ministers to teach them, and to enforce their 
execution 5 a tribunal to determine all disputes concerning faith, 
morality and discipline. Such is the church established by 
Jesus Christ 5 and every such society must have a head. In 
fact, Jesus Christ, in constituting his church, actually did ap- 
point St Peter and his successors the spiritual heads of all the 
faithful. This is a truth avowed by the fathers and by the coun- 
cils of every age ; and the universal voice of catholic tradition 
proclaims it. Holy scripture informs us, that our Divine Re- 
deemer gave this pre-eminence to Peter with respect to the rest 
of the apostles ; as most evidently appears from Matt. xvi. 18, 
19, where in reward of his faith and confession he confirmed to 
him the name of Peter, which signifies a Rock ; and promised 
that upon this rock he would build his church, and that the gates 
of hell should not prevail against it ; and, moreover, that he 
would give to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, SfC And 
again— from St John xxi. 15, &c. where our Lord, after having 

Ee 2 



220 GRE 

asked St Peter — dost thou love me more than these P thrice com- 
mitted to him the charge of all his lambs and sheep, without 
exception ; that is, the special care of his whole church. Hence 
St Matthew (chap. x. 2) giving the names of the twelve apostles, 
says — The first, Simon who is called Peter. On no other ac- 
count could he with propriety be styled the first of the sacred 
college, but solely by reason of his supremacy : for, that he was 
first in age, does not appear ; and that he was first in callings 
is not true ; since St Andrew came to Christ before Peter, and 
was probably the elder brother. Certain it is, that the evan- 
gelists in reckoning up the names of the apostles upon several 
occasions, neither follow the order of their age, nor of their 
calling ; nevertheless, they always place Peter the first on the 
list, and sometimes, the more plainly to intimate his pre-emi- 
nence, name him alone, as chief or prince over all his fellow- 
apostles. It is said, for instance, in St Mark, (i. 36) — Simon, 
and they that were with him ,• in St Luke (ix. 32) — Peter, and they 
that were with him ; in the Acts (ii. 14?) — Peter standing — with 
the eleven ; and again (v. 29) — Peter, and the apostles answered 
and said, &c. Here the protestant translation has substituted 
other apostles ; the former expression too clearly denoting St 
Peter's being something more than the rest. In this place it 
may not be impertinent to remark, — that our Lord was pleased 
to instruct the people out of Peter's ship (St Luke, v. 3) ; — that 
he ordered the same tribute to be paid for Peter, as for himself, 
(Matt. xvii. 27) ; — that he prayed for Peter in particular, that 
his faith might not fail ; and ordered him to confirm, or 
strengthen his brethren. (Luke xxii. 32, &c.) 

Hence St Peter's supremacy has been ever acknowledged by 
the unanimous suffrage of the holy fathers. (See Origen- — on 
the 6th chapter to the Romans, and in his 5th homily upon 
Exodus j St Basil— of the judgment of God, T. 2, P. 402 ; St 
Cyril of Jerusalem in his 2d Catechesis ; St Epiphanius, Haer. 
51. § 17, &c. ; St John Chrysostom — in his 2d homily on the 
50th psalm, &c. ; St Cyril of Alexandria — in his 12th book of 
St John ; St Asterius bishop of Amasea — in his sermon upon 
SS. Peter and Paul ; and, among the Latins, St Cyprian Ep. 
70th to Januarius ; St Optatus of Milevis, L. 2, 3 ; St Ambrose, 
L» 10, upon St Luke; St Jerome — in his first book against 
Jovinian ; St Augustine, L. 2, de Baptismo, c. 1 ; St Leo, Ep. 
85 to Anastasius ; St Gregory the Great, L. 4, Ep. 32, &c. &c; 

Now as Christ established his church to remain till the end of 
the world 5 (Matt, xxviii. 20) so, most certainly, he designed 
that the form of government which he established in this church, 
should remain to the end of time. Hence it cannot be question- 
ed but that our blessed Lord intended, that the supremacy which 
he originally appointed for the better government of his church, 
and the preservation of unity, should not die with Peter—my 



GRE 221 

more than the church itself, with which he promised to remain 
for ever ; but that it should descend after Peter's decease, to his 
successors. For, in proportion as the danger of schism in suc- 
ceeding ages must of course increase, the greater must be the 
necessity of one Head in order to preserve all in one faith and in 
one communion. Nor did the church ever acknowledge any 
.other for her chief pastor than the bishop of Rome ; and no 
other does, or ever did, put in a claim to the spiritual suprema- 
cy, in quality of successor to St Peter. Even the Greeks them- 
selves — down to the period of their first separation from the 
Latin church, respected his authority ; and ecclesiastic history 
is full of instances, in which the primacy of the pope was exer- 
cised even over the church of Constantinople. St Gregory ex- 
pressly affirms, that both the emperor, and the bishop of that see, 
always recognised the superiority of the Roman church, (Ep. p. 
941.) The patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem 
acknowledged also — the papal jurisdiction ; as facts ofincontested 
notoriety prove to demonstration. When Cerularius renounced 
the communion of the Western church, all his efforts to engage 
Peter of Antioch in his schism were ineffectual ; and he con- 
stantly maintained against that schismatical patriarch — the prima- 
cy of the Roman chair. Nor was Africa a stranger to this doc- 
trine; of which the history of the Donatists and the Pelagians 
affords innumerable proofs. At the commencement of the re- 
forming era — the supremacy of the pope was universally admitted. 
Huss himself appealed from the sentence of his own pastor the 
archbishop of Prague, to the see apostolic of Rome ; and Luther 
at first thought fit to disavow the charge of disaffection to the 
papal authority. " I cast myself," says he to Leo X. " at your 
holiness's feet, resolved as I am to obey Jesus Christ who speaks 
by your mouth." (Op. Tom. 5, p. 10.) He entreats the pope 
to listen to him as to a sheep committed to his charge ; protests, 
that he acknowledges the supremacy of the Roman church ; 
and allows, that in every age the popes have held the first rank 
among her pastors, (ibid. p. 285, T. 2, p. 1.) Melancthon too, 
was for leaving to the pope his spiritual authority, and was of opi- 
nion it might be of service to religion. The learned protestant 
writer Grotius declares, that the bishop of Rome has a right 
to preside over the universal church ; and does away the objec- 
tion, that the pope may possibly make an ill use of his preroga- 
tive — by observing, that in such case, when his mandates are in 
opposition to the canons, they must not be obeyed ; but that, 
notwithstanding, his authority ought not to be denied, nor obe- 
dience to be witholden, when his commands are just: " Had 
due attention," continues he, " been given to this maxim, we 
should at this moment have had a church both united and re- 
formed" The clergy of France, and all its universities, main- 
tained the same opinion ; neither admitting infallibility in the 



222 HEL 

pope nor any power inherent in him, over the temporalities oi 
princes. 

The superiority then of the Roman pontiff, is a superiority of 
honor and jurisdiction : it is his province to cause the canons of 
the church to be duly observed throughout the christian world ; 
to assemble synods, and excommunicate the refractory. His 
decisions, though not infallible, are of great weight, and ought 
to be respected. He can devise and propose to the church new 
laws ; but they are not generally binding, independently of the 
general acceptation of the church. This primacy is of Divine 
right ; and the Gallican clergy also maintained the bishop of 
Rome to be metropolitan and patriarch of his own diocese ; and 
to have particular prerogatives, and a temporal power over what 
is called the ecclesiastic state, — though not of Divine right, but 
only by right of acquisition. They held him, likewise, to be 
inferior to a general council, and liable to deposition by its su- 
perior authority ; and that the pope could neither absolve a 
subjeet from his allegiance to the king, nor even depose bishops 
in virtue of his primary jurisdiction. The Transalpine divines 
have different ideas of the papal supremacy ; but their preten- 
sions have nothing to do with faith. 

In answer to the objection against the use of unleavened bread 
in the eucharist, we will just remark, that it was the constant 
opinion of all the ancient fathers, that our Lord himself had 
used it in the institution of this divine sacrament; and that its 
use was general in the Western church before the times of Pho- 
tius. Nor do we find any thing in holy scripture, in tradition, 
or in the sacred liturgies, which tends to reprobate this prac- 
tice. It would appear, that the fathers had adopted it —after 
the example of our Blessed Redeemer, and for greater uni- 
formity ; and that, on the contrary, the Greeks had preferred 
leavened bread, — not to seem too much attached to a practice 
which had originated from an ordinance of the Jewish law. 
Both the one and the other proceeded in this point upon war- 
rantable grounds ; nor could their varying in matters of disci- 
pline only, justify a schismatical division. — The controversy 
concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost will be discussed 
under the article Macedonius. 



H 

Helvidius — was an Arian who wrote a book against the per- 
petual virginity of the mother of God ; his followers were termed 
Antidicomarianites. (See this article.) He was so profoundly 



HEN 2£S 

learned as not to know, that in the scripture style cousins are de- 
nominated brethren. (Hieron. cont. Helvid. Aug. Hser. 84. 
Epiph. Hser. 78.) 

Henry of Bruys — was by profession a hermit who, about the 
commencement of the eleventh age, adopted many of the errors 
of his master Peter of Bruys. (See the article.) He denied with 
the latter the utility of infant baptism, condemned the use of 
churches and oratories, and rejected the mass, together with the 
practice of praying for the dead, &c. An affected singularity 
and austerity of life obtained for Henry the reputation of a saint. 
He was young ; wore his hair and beard short ; went barefoot 
even in the severest seasons ; was tall of stature, and ill clad ; his 
eyes and countenance were wild as the aspect of a stormy ocean, 
and his voice terrific as the thunder. His rest he ordinarily 
took on the top of some eminence in the open air, and passed 
the day in the public resorts of the lower classes. The female 
part of his admirers affirmed, that he was gifted with the spirit 
of prophecy, and knew the secrets of their consciences, and their 
most hidden sins. Henry was now solicited to favor with his 
presence the diocese of Mans ; whither he dispatched two of his 
disciples who were received with the veneration due to angels. 
Henry afterwards repaired thither in person ; obtained surrep- 
titiously leave to preach ; and the clergy themselves exhorted 
the people to attend his sermons. 

The hermit was endowed with a surprising natural eloquence ; 
and he soon convinced the populace that he was an apostolic 
man. He then began boldly to inculcate his erroneous and 
equally seditious doctrines. Widely different was the effect of 
his discourses from what had been expected: the people were 
incited to acts of violence against the clergy, and were taught to 
treat them as excommunicated persons : they threatened to puil 
down their houses, to rifle their property, and to stone or hang 
their persons. Some were actually dragged in the mire, and 
beaten in the most outrageous manner. In the absence of the 
bishop of Mans, who was then at Rome, the chapter proceeded 
to excommunicate the new evangelist : the sentence was received 
with insult; and Henry continued his seditious harangues. 
Meanwhile, the pious and enlightened bishop Hildebert return- 
ing, caused the hermit to appear before the people ; put some 
questions to him to expose his ignorance, and then forbade him 
to preach, with an order that he should quit his diocese. Hen- 
ry left Mans accordingly ; and travelling^through Languedoc 
and Provence, collected there some few disciples. Pope^Euge- 
nius III. dispatched a legate into those provinces ; and St Ber- 
nard also repaired thither, in order to preserve the faithful from 
the multifarious errors and fanaticism which desolated that part 
of France. Henry took to flight, but was arrested in his retreat, 



224 HER 

and confined for life in close custody at Toulouse. His follow- 
ers dispersed themselves over the southern provinces of France, 
mixed with the Albigenses, and were annihilated together with 
them. Thus terminated the pretended perpetuity of the pro- 
testant system of religion — of those enlightened times ; and such 
was the end of another of Mr Basnage's famed patriarchs of the 
reformation. (Hist, des Egl. Ref. t. 1, Period 4, c. 6, p. 145. 
See Peter of Bruys.) To his other claims of veneration from 
protestants, let it be added, that Henry of Bruys was convicted 
of adultery and other grievous crimes ; and that he was ordina- 
rily attended by crowds of profligate women, to whom he 
preached up the most execrable immorality. These he per- 
suaded to atone for past sins by public immodesties in the 
church, &c. (Acta. Episcop. Cenonlan. in Vita Hildeberti.) 
Mosheim, who quotes these acts, has not thought fit to repel 
the imputation. 

Heracleonites — sectarists of the second age, and a branch 
of Valentinians. Their author was one Heracleon, who appear- 
ed about the year 140, and disseminated his erroneous princi- 
ples chiefly m Sicily. St Epiphanius tells us, (Hasr. 36) that 
to the reveries of Valentinus, Heracleon had superadded his 
own visionary conceits. He admitted two worlds ; the one visi- 
ble and corporeal, the other spiritual and invisible. The last of 
which only, according to him, was the work of the Divine Word. 
He labored hard to justify his system by forced and allegorical 
explications of Holy Scripture, unwarranted either by reason or 
tradition. Thus did he impose upon the credulity of many, and 
form the sect denominated from him Heracleonites. His com- 
mentaries on the gospels of St John, and of St Luke, were re- 
futed by the famous Origen, and are full of allegories — destitute 
alike of probability and good sense ; always arbitrary, and fre- 
quently ridiculous. (Philostorg. de Hser. c. 41. Autor. Append, 
apud Tert. 4. 49. Aug. de Hoar. c. 16. Epiph. Haer. 36. Grabe 
Spicileg. secundi sasc. p. 80.) 

Hermians — the followers of one Hermias who flourished in 
the second age, and adopted the sentiments of Hermogenes. 
He held the eternity of matter ; that God was the soul of the 
universe, and that consequently he was incumbered with a ma- 
terial body, agreeably to the opinion of the Stoics. Jesus 
Christ, he said, rising again from the dead had not taken with 
him into heaven his sacred body, but had reposited it in the sun 
whence he had originally assumed it. The soul of man, accord- 
ing to the ideas of this new doctor, is composed of elementary 
fire and subtil air ; the birth of children he identifies with the 
resurrection, and this world he ridiculously supposes to be hell. 
Thus did Hermias attempt to adulterate the doctrines of chris- 



HER 225 

tianity, in order to make them tally with the system of the 
Stoics ; which, beyond all doubt, neither he nor other philo- 
sophers of the second age would have deemed worth while, had 
they esteemed the christian religion, as our modern infidels affect 
to do, — one continued series of chicanery and imposture. (Vide 
Philastrium, de Hser. c. 55, 56. Tillemont, t. 3, p. 67, &e. 
See also the ensuing article.) 

Hermogenians — received their tenets and their name from 
Hermogenes, who after having applied himself to the Stoic 
philosophy, embraced the christian religion ; but without aban- 
doning his former erroneous notions. 

The Stoic philosophers admitted a Supreme Being, infinitely 
perfect. This Being they supposed to be what they termed the 
soul of the universe, intermingled and confounded with matter, 
imprisoned as it were in a vast variety of bodies, and subject to 
the blind impetuosity of the elements. While the christians, on 
the contrary, held an eternal and self-existing principle, sove- 
reignly perfect and uncomponnded with matter; which by a 
simple act of its own will, had brought all things into being ; 
had commanded every thing that now exists to come forth out 
of nothing, and was instantly obeyed. 

The principal error retained by Hermogenes after his con- 
version to Christianity, was — with the Stoics to suppose matter 
to be eternal and increated, the more easily to account for the 
origin of evil. He rested his system on the false hypothesis— 
that evil is a substance, or an absolute entity ; and, to render it 
more plausible, he endeavoured to persuade his followers, that 
Moses himself, like the Stoic sages, had taught the eternity of 
matter. Tertullian wrote a book against Hermogenes, in which 
he combats his adversary's arguments with great energy and 
success. If, says he, matter be eternal and increated, it is 
equal with God himself; like him it is a necessary Being, and 
independent of all others. God is sovereignly perfect, precisely 
because he is a necessary principle ; self-existent, eternal, and, 
consequently, immutable. It is therefore an absurdity to sup- 
pose matter to be — eternal, yet pregnant with evil ; — necessa- 
ry, yet limited and imperfect. With just as much consistency 
might it be said, that God himself, although a necessary ana 
self-existing principle, is imperfect, limited and feeble. Second- 
ly, it is alike absurd to say, that matter is an eternal and ne- 
cessary entity, but that its attributes are not so ; and that God 
could alter its state, and give to it a different arrangement from 
what it had originally. For, eternity or necessary existence 
implies immutability, and is incompatible with any change. 
Tertullian also proves, that an eternal and increated being, 
such as Hermogenes will have matter to be, cannot be es- 
sentially evil s consequently, the hypothesis of the eternity of 

rf 



226 HET 

matter, would not account for the origin of evil— the grand ob- 
ject which Hermogenes, in maintaining the co-eternity of 
matter, had in view. 

Hesycastes, that is to say, Quietists — were pretended con- 
templatives among the Greeks, originating with their monks in 
the eleventh century. In the fervour of their meditation they 
imagined themselves in ectasy, and fancied that they beheld a 
heavenly light, which they took to be an emanation from the 
Divine substance, and the very same with that which the apos- 
tles had beheld on occasion of our Blessed Redeemer's transfi- 
guration upon Mount Thabor. 

This ridiculous conceit was renewed with greater zeal in 
the fourteenth century, especially at Constantinople ; where 
it excited much disquisition, occasioned synodical convocations 
of bishops, produced ecclesiastical censures, and a variety of 
treatises written pro and con by the contending parties. 

From this silly fanaticism of the Grecian monks, many pro- 
testants have taken occasion to declaim against the contempla- 
tive life. But a paroxysm of folly in the mystics of Mount 
Athos, demonstrates only the weakness of their own brain. 
Certainly, a person may acquire a habit of meditating upon 
holy things, without forfeiting the use of reason ; and one may 
be a fool, without the gift of contemplation. The church in ap- 
proving the religious institute of monks and nuns, does not ap- 
prove fanaticism or superstition. 

Heterodox, or differing in opinion — is an epithet equally 
applicable to false doctrines and false teachers in matters of reli- 
gion. A false teacher is one, who disseminates and maintains 
sentiments not according with the truths which God hath re- 
vealed. In a religion of which the Divinity himself is the 
author, we cannot be at variance with revelation — without falling 
into error. Revelation, notwithstanding, is not witness in its 
own cause ; nor does Almighty God any longer make known 
to us immediately and personally r what he requires us to be- 
lieve. What then is the medium through which we are to 
attain the perfect certitude of any doctrine being revealed ? 
This in effect, is the principal and fundamental point, in which 
catholics and protestants are at issue with each other. The 
latter, with some semblance of plausibility, maintain that holy 
scripture is the medium by which Almighty God has been 
pleased to instruct us concerning revelation ; that whoever be- 
lieves holy scripture, which is the word of God, believes in fact 
—all that God has revealed ; and that, consequently, he cannot 
be guilty of heterodoxy, or of culpable error. Catholics on the 
other hand, contend, that holy scripture, which they equally 
believe to be the word of God, cannot possibly be the organ of 



HUS 227 

revelation to all. In fact, this divine book does not actually 
go in quest of infidels who are utter strangers to it ; it neither 
instructs, nor so much as speaks to those that cannot read. 
Let us make the supposition — that an infidel by some lucky 
rencounter, lights upon a bible translated into his own language ; 
whence must he derive his conviction of its being the word of 
God ; that whatever is contained in this book is true, and that 
he is bound to believe it with divine faith ? If he is so persua- 
ded, it is because some missionary has assured him of it ; in 
which case his faith rests upon the word of the missionary, and 
not upon the written word of God. From the times of the 
apostles down to the present day, there is no instance of a sin- 
gle infidel being brought to the faith — solely by reading the holy 
scripture. Hence, St Paul affirms* that faith comes not by 
reading, but by the hearing : Jides ex aaditu. 

From the above praemissae catholics conclude, that the mean 
established by Almighty God — of coming to the knowledge of 
what he has revealed, is the testimony of his church, or the con- 
stant and uniform instruction of pastors divinely commissioned, 
and whose mission is authentic and incontestible. Such, in fact, 
is the method by which Almighty God has enlightened and con- 
verted all those infidel nations that have at any time embraced 
the christian religion. Hence again, they infer, that whatever 
dogma is contrary to what this church teaches and maintains — is 
heterodox, and an error which excludes its authors and abettors 
from all rational hope of salvation. Common sense, I think, 
must give the verdict in favour of the catholic system, however 
prejudice and the bigotry of education may incline another way. 

Hussites — followers of John Huss, and of Jerome of Prague. 
They were both condemned to the stake, and executed at 
Constance for their seditious opinions, in 1415. Huss, deeply 
tainted with the doctrines of Wicklef, taught that the church 
consisted exclusively, of the just and predestinate; reprobates 
and sinners, according to him, making no part of this society. 
Hence he concluded, that a bad pope, for instance, was no 
longer the vicar of Jesus Christ ; that bishops and priests living 
in the state of sin, forfeited of course, all claim to jurisdiction 
and ministerial power. This doctrine he extends even to the 
persons of civil magistrates and princes : those that are vicious 
and govern ill, he says, are ipso facto stript of all authority. 
Vast numbers adopted his sentiments in Bohemia and Moravia. 

The consequences of such pernicious tenets are obvious. The 
moment any subject establishes himself judge of the conduct of 
his superiors as well spiritual as temporal, and that it appears to 
him exceptionable, he has nothing to do but rise in arms to effect 
their extirpation. 

f f 2 



22$ H U S 

Thus did this pretender to reform, under the specious plea of 
opposing the abuses to which the authority of the Roman pon- 
tiffs, sometimes carried to excess, gave occasion, — aim a mortal 
blow at the very vitals of all subordination in church and state. 
He held that christians were not obliged to obey their prelates, 
but when their orders appeared to themselves reasonable and 
just ; that their rule of faith was scripture alone ; with other doc- 
trinal innovations since adopted by the protestants. From the 
censures of the archbishop of Prague, and of the pope, he ap- 
pealed to the general council of Constance ; to which the king 
of Bohemia commanded him to give an account of his doctrine, 
after first obtaining for him of the emperor Sigismund — a pro- 
mise of a free and safe passage through his dominions on his way 
to Constance, as well as on his return from the council ; provided 
he should be there found orthodox, or retract his errors. 
Huss, on the contrary, obstinately refused to obey the council, 
and continued openly to disseminate his seditious principles. 
For this treasonable and inflammatory conduct he was — by the 
civil magistrate of Constance and not by the council — sentenced 
to the flames. Neither the emperor nor the council on this occa- 
sion did any thing inconsistent with good faith. The council 
condemned his errors and left to the emperor the part of inflict- 
ing on the criminal the punishment awarded by the law ; and 
the emperor did no more than avenge his own cause and that of 
every crowned head, in directing him to be legally punished 
when found guilty and pertinacious in his treasonable maxims. 
This is a right inalienable in all sovereigns, and it is an absurdity 
to imagine, that Sigismund ever had the most distant idea of 
despoiling himself of it. 

Mosheim, the great advocate and admirer of John Huss, him- 
self acknowledges, that the declaration which he made against 
the infallibility of the catholic church, was sufficient to entitle 
him to the epithet of false teacher. . Was then the catholic 
church to alter its belief, in order with consistency to absolve a 
person of that description ? Mosheim again, allows (Hist. 
Eccles.) that the Hussites of Bohemia rebelled against the empe- 
ror Sigismund — after he became their lawful sovereign ; and 
chose to take up arms rather than submit to the decrees of the 
council of Constance ; pretending that Huss had been condemn- 
ed unjustly. Was it then in character for an ignorant banditti, 
as they certainly were, to undertake to decide as judges — what 
was orthodox doctrine and what not ? They did not long agree 
even among themselves; and soon formed two independent 
parties ; the one denominated Calixtins — because they insisted 
upon being allowed the privilege of the chalice at communion j 
requiring, moreover, that the clergy should imitate the conduct 
©f the apostles, and that mortal sins should be punished in u 



H U S 229 

^manner apportioned to their enormity: the other party was 
called Thaborites from a mountain in the vicinity of Prague, 
which they fortified, and to which they gave the name of Tha- 
bor : these were more fanatic than the former, and carried their 
pretensions still farther. Primitive simplicity, the abolition of 
the papal authority, the absolute change of the form of worship, 
and the conceit of having none to preside over their society but 
Jesus Christ in person, who, they said, was about personally to 
revisit the earth, with a flambeau in one hand, and a sword in 
the other, in order to extirpate heresy and to purify his church. 
To this class of Hussites, exclusively, Mosheim wishes to ascribe 
all the acts of cruelty and barbarity committed in Bohemia 
during the course of a bloody war which lasted sixteen years : 
hut, he observes, it is difficult to decide whether the Hussites or 
the catholics pushed their excesses to greater lengths.- — Let us 
suppose it, for a moment. The Hussites, at least, were the ag- 
gressors : they did not await the martyrdom of John Huss, be- 
fore they exercised their outrages upon the catholics ; and, 
though there might exist abuses in the church, a troop of igno- 
rant fanatics, surely, were not the fittest instruments to reform 
them. Mosheim admits, that their maxims were abominable, 
and that from such men it was not natural to expect any thing — 
save acts of cruelty and injustice. 

In the year 1433, the fathers of the council of Basil succeeded 
in reconciling the Calixtins to the catholic church, and indulged 
them in the use of the cup at the sacred communion. The Tha- 
borites, on the contrary, remained incorrigible; though Mo- 
sheim tells us that, on this occasion for the first time, they began 
to examine into the grounds of their religion, and to give to it a 
reasonable form. It was indeed high time they should do so, 
after sixteen years of blood and carnage. These reformed sec- 
tarians of John Huss, now took the name of Brethren of Bohe- 
mia, and were also called Picards or rather Begards : they 
espoused the cause of Luther when he commenced reformer, 
and were his precursors before they became his disciples. 
Hence we may account for that partiality which protestants 
have always shown in favor of the Hussites. Of this so glorious 
an alliance catholics do not envy them the honor, — 1. It is 
granted by the protestants, that these their fellow brethren in 
Christ were influenced — not by their zeal for religion, but by 
a blind and furious fanaticism ; since they never thought of any 
plan of worship before the lapse of sixteen years at least, after 
the death of their proto-martyr Huss ! 2. Mosheim has not 
condescended to inform the world, in what consisted that pre- 
tended reasonable religion, which so naturally formed a coalition 
with protestantism. Indeed, that a religion — orthodox in its 
principles and rational in its creed — should have been the work 



■230 ICO 



of a frantic and infuriated rabble, is somewhat paradoxical. 
Luther himself had sucked in from the writings of Wicklef and 
John Huss, not only his heterodox opinions, but also those san- 
guinary maxims which disgrace his own writings, and renewed 
in Germany, through the instrumentality of the Anabaptists, a 
part of the horrid scenes of blood and devastation, of which the 
Hussites had already set the example in Bohemia. 



I& J 

Jacobites. See the article Eutychtans. 

Iconoclasts, or Image-breakers — enemies to the catholic 
practice of venerating holy images. The catholic church then 
maintains — that " sovereign or divine honour is due to God alone, 
and cannot be given to any creature without sacrilege and' gross 
idolatry : much less to images or relics which, our catechism 
admonishes us from our infancy, can neither see, nor hear, nor 
help us. But as protestants do revereiice to the name of Jesus 
in compliance with what their church enjoins, and bow to the 
altar, (see Archbishop Laud's speech in the Star Chamber, 
June 14, 1637) — without giving divine worship either to the 
sound or to the wood (the action of bowing being of itself in- 
different, and not always an indication of divine excellency in the 
thing or person towards whom it is used) ; so we believe, that 
christians have the liberty of using such actions, as are not by 
the gospel appropriated solely to God, in respect of the images 
of Christ and his saints, — without giving divine worship to any 
thing save to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. For 
where there is no law, there is no transgression. (Rom. iv. v. 15.) 
Bowing and kneeling are not actions appropriated by the gospel, 
exclusively, to God alone. They are among the c3icx.q>c%u, and 
are marks of an inferior respect ; — -in a child, for instance, re- 
ceiving in that humble posture the blessing of his parents ; — in 
the people craving the benediction of the priest ; — in a subject 
attending to the commands of his prince. The use of incense 
in public assemblies, having nothing in itself derogatory from 
the purposes of religion, and seemingly very congruous with 
Malach.i. v. 11, and neither strictly commanded nor prohibited 
to christians, cannot be thought appropriated by the gospel 
solely to Almighty God ; but is as indifferent an action as bowing. 
Nor has any person been found ever yet so silly as to imagine, 
that in incensing the people or the choir, we mean to compli- 
ment them with divine honors" — Hawarden, Church of Christ. 



r c o 23i 

« The rites and ceremonies of the divine law delivered by 
Moses, do not oblige christians. Only the moral precepts con- 
cern them; as the seventh of the thirty-nine articles rightly 
observes : and hence it follows that, whatever was the sense of 
the first (or, as protestants will have it, the second) command- 
ment, in respect of the Jews, christians are neither forbidden by 
it to have images of God, nor to give them an inferior respect ; 
unless it can be shewn, that this is a thing of itself repugnant to 
reason. Pictures indeed, have no other virtue but that — of 
putting us in mind of what they represent. This they do 
effectually; and we find a convenience in having — a crucifix, 
for instance, before us when we pray, that the sight cf it may 
help to fix our wandering thoughts upon Him, whom it repre- 
sents as bleeding and dying for our salvation. And, if a child 
that loves his father, or a subject that is loyal to his prince, 
hath naturally some respect for his picture, why should the love 
which we bear to Christ and his saints be deemed unreasonable, 
if we shew an inferior honor and respect for their pictures; or 
express our esteem for the persons whom they represent, by 
such actions as are of themselves indifferent : such as the Jews 
might lawfully make use of — to the ark, to the temple, to the 
holy vessels ; or protestants — to the name of Jesus, to the altar y 
to the chair of state ?" Ibid. 

Let us now see in what light the opponents of this doctrine, 
as well ancient as those of modern date, view a practice in itself 
so innocent and rational. Leo the Isaurian, who of a common 
soldier of mean extraction, had been exalted to the imperial 
dignity, and like Bonaparte, was a better soldier than divine, 
was the first to w T age an open war against the use of holy images ; 
and in 725, he, by an imperial edict, commanded them to be 
abolished ; accusing the emperors his predecessors, all catholic 
bishops, and all christians in general — of idolatry ; for his 
ignorance could not distinguish between a relative and an 
absolute worship. Ignorant, however, and stupid as he was, 
he deemed himself well qualified to dictate to the church of 
Christ — what it was henceforward to believe ; and his impious 
son Copronimus and grandson Leo Chazarus, were not less 
zealous in forwarding by dint of persecution the hallowed work 
of image-breaking. The empress Irene, wife to the latter em- 
peror, was always privately a catholic, though otherwise an artful 
and ambitious woman. After her husband's miserable death in 
780, she got the regency and whole government into her hands 
during the minority of her son Constantine, and put a stop to the 
persecution of the catholics. A general council was with her 
approbation convened at Nice in 787. The legates of pope 
Adrian are named first in the Acts, then St Tarasius patri- 
arch of Constantinople, -and after him the deputies of the Orient- 
al patriarchs. The council consisted of three hundred and fifty 



bishops, besides many abbots and other dignified priests ana 
confessors. Having declared the sense of the church in re- 
lation to the matter in debate, the council declared that a relative 
honor was to be given to holy pictures and images. In the third 
session were read the letters of the patriarchs of Alexandria, An- 
tioch and Jerusalem — all teaching the same doctrine of paying a 
relative honor to sacred images, no less than the letters of pope 
Adrian. In the fourth session were produced many passages 
from the fathers of the church in proof of the same opinion. 
After which, with one accord, they all concurred in following the 
tradition of the catholic church ; declaring in their confession of 
faith, that they honored the mother of God, who is above all 
the heavenly powers ; then, the angels, apostles, prophets, mar- 
tyrs, doctors, and all the saints ; as also, their pictures : for 
though the angels are incorporeal, they have appeared like men. 
In the fifth session were read many passages of fathers, falsified 
and corrupted by the Iconoclasts, as was clearly proved. In the 
sixth session the sham council of the Iconoclasts under Coproni- 
mus was condemned, and refuted as to every article ; particular- 
ly, its false pretensions to the title of a general synod ; for it was 
not received, but anathematized by the other bishops of the 
church ; nor had the Roman pontiff any wise concurred to it> 
either personally or by his legates. The council urges against: 
it — the desperate plea by which, like our modern reformers, it 
accused the church of idolatry. This is giving the lie to Christ 
whose kingdom, according to scripture, is everlasting. In fact, ta 
accuse the whole church is insulting Christ himself —They added, 
that the sham synod had contradicted itself ; admitting as it did, 
that the six general councils had preserved the faith inviolate, and 
yet condemning the use of images, which it must allow to be more 
ancient than the sixth general council, and is indeed, of as high 
antiquity as the apostolic age. Finally, that whereas the Iconoclast 
council insinuated that, the clergy having fallen into idolatry, God 
had raised faithful emperors to destroy the fortresses of the devil, 
the Nicene synod vehemently condemns this; for the bishops 
are the depositaries of tradition, and not the emperors. After 
the close of the council, synodal letters were sent to all the pre- 
lates of the church, and in particular to the pope by whom it 
was approved. 

Already had the doctrine of Iconoelasm been solidly refuted 
by many orthodox and learned theologians, some of whom had 
sealed their orthodoxy with their blood. But among the de- 
fenders of sacred images, few more eminently distinguished 
themselves than the great St John Damascen, who prefaces his- 
treatise with the following sublime and truly christian exordium. 
" Seeing the church," exclaims the holy doctor, u assailed by 
a furious storm, I think it my duty no longer to be silent ; for 
I fear God more than an emperor of the earth." Against the 



ICO 25$ 

errors of his adversaries he lays down the maxim — that the 
church cannot teach false doctrine ; — consequently, it can never 
fall into idolatry. He distinguishes between the adoration due 
to God alone, which with St Augustine and other fathers he 
calls Latvia ; and that inferior veneration which is exhibited to 
the friends and servants of God,— entirely different, and infinite- 
ly beneath the former, and no more inconsistent with it, than 
the civil honor which the law of nature and holy scriptures com- 
mand us to pay to princes and superiors. He goes on to prove, 
that the veneration rendered to the things which appertain to 
the Divine worship, as altars, churches and the like, is not less 
distinct from the supreme honor which we give to God- The 
precept of the old law forbidding images (unless restrained to 
idols) he says, was merely ceremonial, and regarded the Jews 
only ; which law, if we restore, we must admit equally — circum- 
cision and the Jewish Sabbath. The Iconoclasts, he informs us, 
very inconsistently allowed a religious honor to be due — to the 
holy place on Mount Calvary,- — to the stone of the sepulchre,— 
to the book of the gospels, — to crosses and sacred vessels. Lastly, 
he proves the veneration of holy images lawful — by the authority 
of the fathers, and teaches at large, that the emperor is entrusted 
with the government of the state, " but has no authority to form 
decisions in points of ecclesiastical doctrine." Dr Cave, al- 
though a protestant, avers, that no person of sound judgment 
can peruse the writings of St John-— without admiring his extraor- 
dinary erudition, and the strength of his reasoning, especially in 
theological matters. 

But do not catholics adore the cross ? By no means ; for ado~ 
ration in English signifies strictly — Divine honor. However, in 
a wider sense, the word may sometimes signify a bare respect, 
then protestants themselves may be truly said to adore the altar 
when they bow to it, and catholics, in the same unrestricted sig- 
nification of the term— to adore the cross. What the catholic 
church has defined concerning images, may be reduced to these 
three heads. 

1st. That the images of Christ, and those of the blessed Virgin 
and of all the saints, may be lawfully made and kept by chris- 
tians. Of this between protestants and catholics there is no dis- 
pute. 

2nd. That in proper circumstances, considering what they re- 
present, there is a reverence or respect due to them. This too, 
in general, if bishop Montague may be believed, is granted on 
both sides. (In Epitomio. p. 318.) The English translators of 
Monsieur du Pin, (cent. 8, p. 146,) grant there is an inferior sort 
of respect and honor due to all things consecrated to God's service 
or instrumental in his worship ; as — to the sacred vessels, — to the 
bible, &c. but not worship. For all respect, say they, is not 
worship. But—whether respect in these cases is to be called honor 

eg 



2 34 ICO 

or worship, is merely a grammatical question, and therefore 
quite impertinent in a serious dispute. 

3rd. That they may be lawfully kept in churches. This also, 
provided there be no danger of abuse, is generally admitted on 
both sides : and a catholic divine says very well, that " if in any 
place ignorant people be really in danger of idolatry or supersti- 
tion, all pictures, as long as that danger continues, ought to be 
removed by their pastors." (Delphinus, 1. 3, de Ecclesia, apud 
Nat. Alex. T. 5,. p. 774.) For the bare use and actual venera- 
tion of images is not a matter of faith, but of discipline only. 
Till idolatry and the recent remembrance of it was banished out 
of the christian world, that is, till about the middle of the fourth 
age, or somewhat later,, there was Ettle or no use of images in 
christian oratories, much less> — of statues. Some few pastors, 
among whom St Epiphanius was one of the most distinguished, 
were even of opinion that they were absolutely repugnant to 
Christianity. But others — of as much zeal and more discretion, 
and in greater numbers, opposed the mistake. That it was 
really an error-^is the judgment, not of the catholic church on- 
ly, but also of the Lutherans, and of all moderate proiestants, 
(Montague, par. 2, Orig..§ 144, p. 91. "Si quis novatorum, 
ait, in ea versetur haeresi, illicitum esse, pieturas, imagines, statuas 
conflare, — Ecclesiis ad ornatum proponere, et informationem 
rudiorum, homo vecors est.") And since paganism has been 
utterly banished out of Christendom, the church did well to de- 
clare, that the images of Christ, and of his saints, are to be re- 
tained ; and that due honor and veneration (or respect) is to be 
given to them. (Cone. Trid. Sess. 25. Pius IV. in professione 
fidei.) 

Protestants indeed, accuse the second Nicene synod of — ridicu- 
lous fables, gross misrepresentations of scripture, falsifications 
and impertinent allegations of the ancient fathers. But, who 
ever commended the judge by whom he was condemned ? In 
quoting the fathers they had not the protestant criterion ; nor 
was it necessary for the settling of this manifest truth, that 
christians are no where forbidden in the scripture, either to use, 
or to respect the images of Christ and his saints. Good men are 
not always the best critics. We cannot doubt but the apostles, 
although they knew nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, 
were good pastors. But if we should say, they were very good 
critics, we should assert more than we know. The exceptions 
of the council of Frankfort against the decrees of the Nicene 
synod were built upon misconception, and a false translation of 
the Greek acts ; and consequently, of no service to the protes- 
tant cause: and the objections of modern controversialists, 
brought forward and refuted a hundred thousand times, are lu- 
dicrous and impertinent. (See the controversy treated more at 
large by Dr Hawarden, in his first vol. of the Church of Christ, 



JEW 23S 

from which principally the above abridgement is borrowed ; 
also Dictionaire Theol. de Bergier, Lives of Saints by the Rev. 
Alban Buttler, Pluquet Diet, des Hseres. &c.) 

Jerome of Prague — See Hussites. 

Jews — the descendants of Abraham, so called from Juda, 
one of the twelve sons of Jacob. Concerning their laws and 
customs the reader may consult the books of Moses, and may 
find a partial account of their religion and constitution in the 
epitome prefixed to this work. 

The modern Jews have adopted many very singular practices 
and traditions unknown to their forefathers. When any person 
of their religion is buried, the nearest relation keeps the house 
for a week, sitting on the ground all the time, except on the 
Sabbath-day, when he attends at public prayer. During this 
week they do no business: the husband and the wife lodge 
apart ; and at least ten people assemble morning and evening to 
pray. They offer up supplications for the soul of the person 
deceased all that week, at the close of which term they repair to 
the synagogue, light up lamps, and repeat their prayers, pro- 
mising moreover, to distribute alms in behalf of the departed 
soul. This charitable service, which they justify by the tradition 
of their fore-elders, is reiterated at the end of every month, 
and of every year ; and it is customary for the son to say each 
morning and evening — the prayer for the soul of his father or 
mother. They believe a paradise, where the blessed enjoy the 
beatific vision ; and a hell for wicked men, in which some shall 
continue for ever ; others, only for a time. No Jew, however, 
unles he be a heretic or nonconformist to the dictates of their 
rabbins, shall remain in hell above a year. 

Their creed consists of thirteen articles, 1 . That there is one 
God, the Creator of all things, — all-perfect and all-sufficient. 
2. That he is an uncompounded, individual essence. 3. 
That, of course, he is immaterial. 4. Absolutely eternal. 5. 
Alone to be worshipped and adored by all his creatures. 6. 
They maintain — that there have been formerly, and may still 
arise — certain extraordinary personages called prophets. 7. 
That Moses is the greatest of the prophets. 8. That every 
syllable of the law was given to Moses by inspiration ; and that 
the traditionary expositions of the precepts were entirely a di- 
vine revelation committed to him. 9. That the law is immuta- 
ble ; — in contradiction to the whole tenor of the gospels and 
christian revelation. 10. Tha£ God knows and governs all 
things, 11. That he rewards the observance, and punishes 
the violation, of his laws. 12. They vainly expect the appear- 
ance of the Messiah, whose coming, say they, is delayed. Vd. 

Gg2 



236 ILL 

They believe that God will raise the dead to life, and judge all 
mankind. 

Modern Jews are divided into two branches ; — The Cardites, 
who adopt as their sole rule in religion — the law of Moses ; and 
the Rabbinists, who receive also the traditions of the Talmud, 
which is a repertory of the most extravagant tales and idle 
dreams of their rabbins. The Talmud of Jerusalem, though 
more obscure, is of more ancient date than that of Babylon, 
which however, is generally preferred, as being more extensive. 
The present wandering state of this once chosen generation, is 
a striking exemplification of the Divine wrath, heretofore de- 
nounced against them for having impiously put to death the Sa- 
viour of the world. 

Illuminati— a sect which made its appearance in Spain to- 
wards the year 1575. The principal errors of this sect were — that 
through the medium of sublime prayer they attained to a state of 
such extraordinary perfection, that they no longer stood in any 
need of the sacraments, or of good works ; on the contrary, 
that they might without sin abandon themselves to actions the 
most infamous. Molinos and his disciples, a short time after- 
wards, adopted the same immoral principles. The sect, after 
having been suppressed in Spain, was renewed in France in 
1634. But Lewis XIII. caused them to be prosecuted with such 
diligence and severity, that they were quickly annihilated. They 
pretended, that God had revealed to one of their number named 
Brother Antony Bocquet, a new system of belief and method of 
life, hitherto unknown to the professors of Christianity ; that by 
adopting this method persons might rapidly arrive at the per- 
fection of the saints, and even of the blessed Virgin herself, who, 
they asserted, had possessed no more than an ordinary degree of 
virtue. They added, that by their new invented method they 
were rendered capable of so strict a union with God, that their 
actions in this state were all divine. Like some Methodists of 
our day, these enthusiasts maintained, that none of the doctors 
of the church had understood — what true devotion was ; that St 
Peter, in comparison with them, was but a dunce in the science 
of spirituality, as was also his fellow apostle St Paul ; and that 
the universal church was left in darkness and the grossest igno- 
rance with regard to the genuine spirit and practice of the creed. 
They affirmed, that all was lawful that agreed with conscience, 
whether erroneous or otherwise ; and that within the space of 
ten years the whole world would embrace their sentiments, and 
then there would be no want of priests, — of religious orders in 
the church ; of curates, bishops or other ecclesiastic superiors. 
(Voyez Sponde, Vittorio Siri, &c.) <• 



IND 237 

Impeccables. See Anabaptists, of whom they formed a 
branch. 

iNCORRUPTicoLiE — were a branch of Eutychians, who main- 
tained that in the incarnation of the Son of God, the human 
nature had been absorbed by the Divine, and consequently, that 
the two natures were confounded in one. They first appeared 
in 535. In asserting that the body of Jesus Christ was incor- 
ruptible, they intimated that, from its first formation in the Vir- 
gin's womb, it was incapable of any alteration or change, and 
never experienced either hunger or thirst ; and that, before his 
death as well as after his resurrection, he eat without necessity or 
appetite. The consequence of this their error was — that the 
body of Jesus Christ was impassible and not liable to pain, and 
that thus our Divine Saviour had not really suffered for our 
salvation. This was in fact, the natural tendency of Eutychian- 
ism. See the article. 

Independents — sectaries who disclaim subjection to ecclesi- 
astical authority. In matters of faith and doctrine, they profess 
rigid Calvinism ; and their independence is chiefly in regard of 
discipline, rather than in the tenets of religion. They insist, 
that each particular church or religious society, contains within 
itself every requisite for its own conduct and government ; that 
it possesses full ecclesiastical jurisdiction and authority, indepen- 
dent of every other church or churches, their deputies, synodical 
decisions, or of any bishop whatever. 

During the civil wars the independent party having gained 
the ascendancy, almost all the other sects inimical to the English 
establishment, flocked to their standard. They consisted, first, of 
Presbyterians who differ from the genuine Independents in points 
of discipline only : secondly, of a confused variety of Anabaptists, 
Socinians, Antinomians, Familists, Libertines and others, scarce- 
ly deserving of the name of christians, and whom Spanheim 
compliments with the epithet of counterfeit Independents. 

Independentism has still its followers in England, in North 
America and in Holland. One Morel attempted to introduce 
it among the protestants in France ; but the synod of La Ro- 
chelle in which the famous Beza presided, and that of Charenton 
held in the year 1644, condemned the system, though not 
with much consistency. For what right had they to interfere, 
whether the Independents proved well or ill their doctrines from 
holy scripture ? They had texts at hand to favour their preten- 
sions ; and, in the main, they did not stretch the fundamental 
principle of protestantism beyond its full and natural extent. 
Mosheim who, doubtless, was aware of this, has racked his 
utmost ingenuity to exculpate the Independents of the enormi- 
ties and seditious conduct imputed to them by our historians. 



^35 J O V 

In the judgment, however, of the English translator of bis 
ecclesiastical history, he has failed in the attempt. He thinks 
little of their public professions, because they were made in un- 
toward circumstances ; and, it is a fact, that the Calvinists in 
general have uniformly, when in their power, set up republican- 
ism on the ruins of their former monarchical government, and 
never yielded submission to their lawful sovereigns, but by com- 
pulsion. In a word, every well informed and unbiassed mind 
will readily acknowledge, that neither the origin nor the de- 
meanour of the sect will ever do much honor to the protestant 
cause, or that of Christianity at large. 

Indifferent (the) — a sect of Anabaptists. See the article. 

Infernalians — maniacs of the sixteenth century, who impi- 
piously maintained, that during our Blessed Redeemer's repo- 
sing in the tomb, his soul descended into the pit of hell, and 
was tormented with the damned. (See Gauthier, Chron. sage. 16.) 
Calvin himself was not ashamed to say — that, during its deten- 
tion there, it was abandoned to all the horrors of despair ; ano- 
ther most flagrant instance this — of the frightful abuse of holy 
scripture by private interpretation ! 

Johnsonians — so called from the late Mr Johnson, a dis- 
senting minister at Liverpool. They have places of worship at 
Norwich, Liverpool and in the neighbourhood of Halifax, and 
in some other parts. These sectaries deny the Trinity of persons 
in God, and disbelieve the pre-existence of Christ, although 
they very inconsistently maintain him to be properly God. They 
reject also, the doctrine of original sin, but still hold that no 
man will savingly believe the gospel, without the special influence 
of the Spirit. They deny the natural immortality of the soul, 
and say that the whole of man is at present mortal ; yet allow 
the separate existence of the soul between death and the resur- 
rection. They contend too, that it is impossible for a real chris- 
tian to have any doubts and fears respecting his acceptance with 
God. This idea, totally at variance with St Paul, who advises 
us to work out our salvation with fear and tremblings they seem 
to have borrowed from John Calvin, or perhaps more immedi- 
ately, from their contemporaries the modern Methodists. Re- 
surrection they extend to the whole animal creation, not less 
than to the human race. (See Mr Evans's Sketch.) 

Jovinianists— were the followers of Jovinian, who towards 
the close of the fourth century, after having lived many years 
in the practice of great austerities under the conduct of St Am- 
brose, began to tire of monastic perfection, and preferred the 
delicacies of Rome, and the charms of liberty, to the confine- 



J U D 239 

ment and severities of the cloister. To justify this extraordina- 
ry step, he insinuated, that abstinence and sensuality were of 
themselves indifferent things, and that all meats were equally 
lawful when taken with thanksgiving ; that the state of virginity 
was not more perfect than that of matrimony ; and that the 
Holy Mother of God did not remain a virgin after her concep- 
tion. He held likewise, that those who were once regenerated 
in baptism, could no more be vanquished by the devil ; that, 
consequently, all the regenerate would receive an equal recom- 
pence in heaven. According to St Augustine, he moreover 
maintained with the Stoic philosophers, that all sins were equally 
enormous. These errors were condemned by Pope Siricius, 
and by a council which St Ambrose held at Milan in 390. 

St Jerome, with his usual vivacity of style, vindicated the 
merit of virginity. To some he appeared to reprobate the mar- 
ried state. But the holy doctor undertook to shew, that his 
meaning had been misinterpreted ; and explained the passages 
which had given offence. The charge against St Jerome" has, 
however, been renewed by protestants, who have adopted a 
great part of the errors of Jovinian. They pretend that, after 
indulging in intemperate invective, he had been reduced to the 
necessity of contradicting himself: it would be well if the adver- 
saries of catholicity were candid enough, in their, turn, to re- 
tract or to explain, what is susceptible of misconception in their 
writings, or calculated to scandalize their readers. So far from 
censuring, we should applaud their candor and their generosity : 
although in fact, St Jerome was under no such awkward predica- 
ment. See his book against Jovinian, Fleury, Hist. Eccles. 
t. 4, 1. 19, n. 19, &c. 

Islebians. See Agricolaites. 

Isochrist^: — about the middle of the sixth century began to 
maintain in some parts of the Eastern empire, that the apostles 
were to be exalted in heaven to an equal dignity with our Savi- 
our Christ. They were condemned by the council of Constan- 
tinople in 553. See Origenists. 

Judaizing Christians — were those among the converted Jews 
who held that, in order to salvation, it was not enough to believe 
in Jesus Christ, and to practise what he taught ; but that it was 
moreover necessary for the faithful, diligently to keep the cere- 
monial observances ordained by the Mosaic law ; for instance, 
the Sabbath, Circumcision, Abstinence from certain meats ; and 
that even the Gentile converts were bound to observe them. 
The contrary was defined by the apostles in the council of Jeru- 
salem, in the year 51, (Act. c. 15.) Those who, notwithstanding 
this their decision obstinately adhered to their former opinion* 



240 K I L 

were esteemed unorthodox; and St Paul severely condemns 
them in his epistle to the Galatians, written about four years af- 
ter the council. However, it must be remarked, that the apostles 
had not forbidden these legal ordinances to converts that were 
born Jews. And the christian church still observes certain reli- 
gious practices in use with the Jews. Hence unbelievers object — 
that we still continue to Judaize ; and the objection originates 
with protestants. St Leo answered their exceptions fourteen 
hundred years ago. (Serm. 16, n, 6.) « While under the New 
Testament," says this most learned and judicious father of the 
church, " we observe certain practices of the old dispensation, 
the law of Moses seems to add new weight to the precepts of the 
gospel ; and we are more and more convinced, that Jesus Christ 
did not come to abolish, but to fulfil the law : and although we 
no longer stand in need of types which announced the future 
coming of the Saviour, nor of figures, while we are in possession 
of the substance, we still deem it convenient to retain what may 
contribute to promote the worship of God, and sanctity of morals;, 
since these are things — both equally enjoined by the old and new 
dispensations." These too, we have received from apostolical 
tradition* 

Jumpers — a branch of the Methodist society, originating in 
Wales. It began about the year 1760. " In the course of a 
few years, says Mr Evans in his Sketch, the advocates of groan- 
ing and loud talking, as well as of loud singing — repeating the 
same line or stanza over and over thirty or forty times, — became 
more numerous, and were found among .some of the other de- 
nominations in the principality, and continue to this day. Se- 
veral of the more zealous itinerant preachers in Wales, recom- 
mended to the people to cry out Gogoniant (the Welch word 
for glory,) — Amen, &c. &c. — to put themselves in violent agita- 
tions ; and finally — to jump until they were quite exhausted. 
This advice they complied with accordingly, so as often to be 
obliged to fall down on the floor, or on the field, where this 
kind of worship was performed ;" which singular species of fa- 
naticism is supposed to be rather on the decline, though other 
ceremonies of a nature not less ridiculous and eccentric, are 
still prevalent in some assemblies of the Methodistic persuasion.. 
See Mr Evans, article Jumpers. 

Kilhamites — See Methodists. 



LAT 241. 



Latitudinarians — those who very liberally accord salvation 
to all religious sectaries without exception, however widely they 
may differ in their systems of belief and practice ; and thus 
evince their sincere wishes to enlarge the narrow way that leads 
to bliss. Their philanthropy would entitle them to the gratitude 
of a large proportion of mankind, were their doctrine but well 
supported. It has, at least among protestants, the advantage of 
consistency. The great Bossuet has fully proved in his sixth 
Avertissement aux Protestants, that Latitudinarianism or indif- 
ference in religious articles, evidently results from the principle 
which gave birth to the reformation ; namely, that the church is 
not infallible in her decisions ; that none are obliged to yield 
submission without discussing first their plausibility ;, and that 
the only rule of faith is Sacred Scripture. On this principle 
too, Socinians rest their claim of toleration from their protestant 
brethren ; scripture being the alleged rule of faith equally with 
both parties. In vain would protestants assert the distinction 
ok' fundamentals and non fundamentals : by their own avowal, 
*his dictinction has no existence in Holy Scripture. 

The catholic church, less temerarious and more consistent, 
contends that, to decide who shall, and who shall not be saved, 
belongs not to man, but to jhe Deity. When once God exacts 
from us, as the necessary medium of salvation, that we faithfully 
believe in his word, we are not privileged to exempt any person 
from the obligation of believing : and, in effect, it is an absurdi- 
ty to imagine that God has revealed to us his truths, and left it, 
notwithstanding, to our caprice to view them in what light we 
please ; as well might we have been left without any revelation at 
all. But, in fact, God has confided the depositum of revelation 
to his church j and if in charging her to teach all nations, he 
had not imposed on all — the obligation of submitting to her doc- 
trine, this would have been a perfect solecism of legislation. 

During the long lapse of eighteen hundred years, this church 
has maintained, invariably, both her principles and her practice. 
She has always retrenched from her communion every sectarian, 
that has obstinately vindicated his own independence. The ab- 
surdities, the glaring contradictions, the impieties into which they 
have all been hurried in their turn when severed from the catho- 
lic church, alone suffice to demonstrate the necessity of submis- 
sion. Do then the Latitudinarians facilitate the way to heaven, 
or rather, widen the broad road of perdition ? This they may 
term intolerance of belief: but, the spirit of the catholic church 
is not the spirit of persecution : its arms are merely spiritual ; 
and it deprecates from itself and others all violence and blood- 

H h 



242 LOL 

shed. Only, with St Paul, it announces to the world, that with- 
out faith, which he says is one, it is impossible to please God, 
If in this there be a breach of charity, then must that divine 
apostle equally share the guilt. 

Our readers may be apt to infer, that all will be lost, by the 
above principles, who are not in the external communion of the 
catholic church. We say not so ; but those only, who by their 
own fault unhappily remain excluded* Well meaning christians 
of whatever denomination, so disposed as to be sincerely desi- 
rous of finding out, and of embracing the truth when once dis- 
covered, are implicitly true believers, and catholics in their 
heart. All these the church of God acknowledges her children ? 
although the unhappy circumstances of their birth and educa- 
tion prevent them from recognising their rightful mother. 
Will the eighteenth of the thirty-nine articles of the church of 
England bear a more charitable interpretation ? They also r 
says this article, are to be had accursed, that presume to say, 
That every man shall be saved by the law or sect which he profess- 
eth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law 
and the light of nature. For holy scripture doth set out unto us 
only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved. And 
will protestants still forget their own creed, however at defi- 
ance with the grand reforming maxim — in order to calumniate 
more wantonly their fellow christians I 

Lollards — sectarians of the fourteenth century, thus named 
from one Walter Lolhard a German, " who commenced hi* 
apostleship in 1315. The greater part of his erroneous opinions 
he borrowed from the Albigenses : he taught — that the devils had 
been banished heaven unjustly ; tha*i they would one day be re- 
admitted there, and that on the contrary, Michael and the 
other angels, authors of this pretended injustice, would be eter- 
nally damned, as well as all those who should refuse to embrace 
his doctrine. It spread very rapidly in Austria, Bohemia and 
other places. This sect rejected the ceremonies of the church | 
the invocation of saints ; the Blessed Eucharist, and the sacri- 
fice of the mass, as w r ell as extreme-unction, and satisfactory 
works of penance. They maintained that baptism was of no 
avail, confession useless, and matrimony a professed whoredom. 
Lolhard was condemned to the flames at Cologne in 1 322, and 
at his execution betrayed no symptoms either of fear, or of re- 
pentance. 

In England the Wicklefites were denominated Lollards, be- 
cause these two sects, by reason of the similarity of most of their 
opinions, had formed a junction ; and they were both condemn- 
ed by Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, in the 
council of London 1396, and in that of Oxford in 1408. It 
has been very justly observed, that the Wicklefites had predis- 



L U T 243 

posed the minds of the people for the schism of Henry VIII. in 
England, and that the Lollards had prepared the way for John 
IIuss in Bohemia. 

Mosheim gives a different account of the origin of these fana- 
tics, who, be says, under the garb of religion concealed their 
immoralities ; and on this account were the heretics of the four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries called indiscriminately — Lollards* 

Luther— the great apostle of protestantism, was born at 
Isleb, a town of Saxony, towards the close of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, 1483. He studied his course of theology at Wittenburg, 
proceeded doctor and commenced professor in that university, 
after having first embraced the religious institute of the Augus- 
tinians. Europe at that time lived in peaceable subjection to 
the see of Rome — while Leo X. a person of extraordinary qua- 
lifications, and a munificent patron of merit, occupied the pon- 
tifical chair. He formed the project of erecting a magnificent 
church in honor of St Peter, and granted indulgences to all 
that should contribute towards the expences of the edifice. Lu- 
ther's zeal was awakened — at the abuses which are said to have 
been practised in the collection of these charities. He entered 
warmly into the merits of the cause, and soon contested the effi- 
cacy of the indulgences themselves. The dispute was maintained 
with much heat by the papal commissioners and the theologians 
of Francfort ; while Luther on his side, indulged in intemperate 
abuse, and quite forgot the modest reserve of religious subordi- 
nation. He was cited to appear before his Holiness at Rome ; 
and Leo X. issued forth a bull, in which he declared the valid- 
ity of the indulgences, and pronounced that, in quality of suc- 
cessor to St Peter, and vicar of Jesus Christ, he had an un- 
doubted right to grant them ; that this was the doctrine of the 
catholic church, and an essential article of her communion. He 
published another bull, proscribing Luther's opinions, and 
commanding him to burn his books and to retract his errors ; 
which if he neglected to do within a given time, he was to be 
esteemed a heretic. 

Luther resolved to appeal from the papal bull to a general 
council, and as the elector of Saxony had begun to patronise 
his sentiments, he had the boldness publicly to burn the bull at 
Wittenburg. This action was perfectly congenial with Luther's 
violent temper ; but it proved, eventually, in his regard, an act 
also, of policy. The people on the sudden lost that reverential 
awe which hitherto had impressed them, for every decree pro- 
ceeding from the Roman pontiff; and the confidence which they 
had always reposed in the efficacy of indulgences. Luther him- 
self, protected by his great admirer and patron the elector of 
Saxony, disregarded both the ordinances of the emperor 
Charles V. and the censures of Rome fulminated against him in 

Hh2 



244 LUT 

1520. Previous to his excommunication he had appealed to 
the pope, and promised submission to his judgment : but when 
he found himself condemned, and his opinions proscribed, he 
no longer observed any bounds. Nor did the condemnation of 
many celebrated universities make the least impression on his 
haughty mind. 

When first this innovator declaimed againt the abuse of in- 
dulgences, it is probable he was not himself aware how far the 
impetuosity of his character would impel him ; else, we presume, 
his mind would have recoiled with horror from the view of that 
chaos of errors and false doctrines, into which he was about to 
plunge. He began with censuring the abuse of indulgences, 
next maintained their inefficacy, then denied to the church the 
power of absolving sinners, the necessity or utility of contrition 
for sin, and of whatever we term, satisfactory works of penance; 
— fasting, repentance, celibacy, corporal austerities, alms-giving, 
and the like. Luther did not hesitate to pronounce them all 
absolutely useless, and thus to condemn of folly, at least, the 
saints of every preceding age, together with St Paul and all his 
fellow-apostles. Monastic vows he also reprobated, — and the 
continency of priests ; and proved he was in earnest by taking 
to wife a nun. 

So unaccountable was the perversity of his maxims, that he 
taught on one side, that all human actions were sins, and still with 
inconceivable infatuation insisted, that a man justified by faith, 
could never sin at all ; because, according to him, God will not 
impute sin to one thus justified. Mons. Bossuet has placed this 
absurdity in its most glaring light. (Hist. Variat. 1. 1, n. 9, 
&c.) Luther moreover rejects free-will, which he terms a slave ; 
and says, that God operates alike in man both sin and virtue ! 
He pretends that the sacraments possess no other efficacy 
than that of exciting us to faith, and maintains only two sacra- 
ments — baptism and the eucharist, as exclusively producing this 
effect: the confession of Augsbourg indeed, added penance; 
although the Lutherans seem in practice not to have insisted 
much upon this article of their confession. The Ana- 
baptists and Socinians infer from Luther's sacramental system, 
that infants are incapable of baptism, because incapable of actual 
faith. Transubstantiation Luther also discarded, though he 
defended with invincible obstinacy against the Sacramentarians 
- — the real presence of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ 
in the eucharist. Carlostad, his colleague in the university of 
Wirtemberg, maintained that if the real presence was to be de- 
fended, — transubstantiation must equally be admitted. He and 
his adherents in the doctrine of a ^figurative presence only, were 
nick-named Sacramentarians, and excommunicated by Luther ; 
although it was embraced by Zuinglius and Calvin, the other 
two great Fathers of the reformation : nor could he ever be in- 



L U T 245 

Sliced to mitigate the sentence. After his decease, when de- 
sired to explain — how the body of Jesus Christ could be in the 
consecrated host together 'with the bread, some Lutherans replied 
— bv impanation ; others — by ubiquity ; others again — by con- 
comitance or a sacramental union. Whence it appears, they did 
not rightly comprehend the meaning of their master in respect 
of this important article. 

Luther moreover denied the sacrifice of the mass, purgatory, 
and the utility of praying for the dead : he rejected the invoca- 
tion and intercession of the saints ; and maintained that ordina- 
tion conferred upon the ministers of God neither any character 
nor supernatural power ; consequently, according to Luther's 
principles, there is no hierarchy, — no true priesthood : this con- 
sequence too, he did not disavow. With regard to the indissolu- 
bility of matrimony his scruples were but trifling ; and he granted 
to the Landgrave of Hesse the extraordinary privilege of having 
two wives : nor were his sentiments extremely delicate with refe- 
rence to the very pardonable crime of adultery — of which himself 
was more than once, perhaps wrongfully, suspected ; although 
his singular method of explaining the ten commandments, par- 
ticularly the sixth (or as some arrange them, the seventh in the 
catalogue) may well account for such a rude suspicion- Enraged 
that the pope should have presumed to condemn his doctrine 
and excommunicate his person, Luther in revenge proclaim- 
ed him antichrist, denied that the church had any right to 
inflict censures or to proscribe errors, and defined Holy Scripture 
alone to be the rule of faith to christians. But, by the most re- 
volting inconsistency, he himself condemned the Sacramentarians 
and the Anabaptists ; exercised among his followers all the au- 
thority of a sovereign pontiff'; excommunicated, and would wil- 
lingly have exterminated, had it been in his power, all that dif- 
fered with him in opinion. In his new version of the scripture, 
which he compelled his sectarists exclusively to adopt, he thought 
iit to retrench the epistle of St James, because it taught too 
clearly — the necessity of good works. In this however, his dis- 
ciples and our English protestants have not imitated their daring 
patriarch ; they have restored it to its rank in the sacred canon, 
as well as the Apocalypse of St John which is not admitted by 
the Calvinists. 

The principle by which Luther repudiated all the ordinances 
and institutions of the church, as inventions merely human, led 
him to maintain, that in virtue of that liberty of the children of 
God which christians had acquired in baptism, none were sub- 
ject to any human law. No sooner had he published his treatise 
upon Christian Liberty, than a part of the German peasantry 
took up arms against their lawful princes, and committed the 
most atrocious acts of insubordination and rebellion. But such 
disorders, it would seem, did not alarm the piety of Luther : 



246 LUT 

they were what he expected, and endeavoured to promote ; for 
it was a maxim with him, that the gospel must be promulgated 
through torrents of blood. Consistently with this evangelical 
principle, he passed his life in the midst of tumult, — actuated 
with the most furious passions of hatred and vengeance against 
— all that ventured to oppose him. It was the character given him 
by his most intimate friends and confidents ; and to be con- 
vinced of its correctness, we have only to consult his own 
writings. 

Such was the boasted hero of the reformation ; and such, ori- 
ginally, were the prominent features of Protestantism ; which 
with astonishing rapidity was soon diffused over a great part of 
Germany, Prussia, Pomerania, and partially, of Poland : so early 
as the year 1525 two of Luther's disciples travelled into Sweden. 
Gustavus Vasa had newly mounted the Swedish throne, and 
through motives of self interest and ambition, himself became a 
Lutheran. This prince soon made Lutheranism the established 
religion of that kingdom — in order to reduce the power of the 
clergy, and to vest at once all ecclesiastic property as well as 
influence, in his own person. Christiern III. king of Denmark, 
entered into similar views ; and, aided by the counsels and by 
the arms of Gustavus, he also, became absolute in 1536, and 
caused the confession of Augsbourg to be received as the rule of 
faith in Denmark. Under the reign of Sigismund I. Lutheran- 
ism had only a few private sectarists in Poland. But after his 
decease in 1548, under his son and successor Sigismund Au- 
gustus — a feeble and notoriously voluptuous prince, that king- 
dom presently swarmed, with — Lutherans, Hussites, Sacramenta- 
rians, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Unitarians or Socinians, Greek 
schismatics, and a numberless variety of other sects. 

Lutheranism had also penetrated into Hungary and Transyl- 
vania, during the tumults which had agitated those two king- 
doms ; but since their annexation to the Austrian domains, it 
has gradually declined. In France, the emissaries of Luther 
made at first some proselytes, — till the legislature interfered ; those 
of Calvin were more successful, and ushered in the most dread- 
ful state convulsions together with their novel doctrines. Near- 
ly similar was the fate of England. Neither Luther however, 
nor his disciples, had any share in the meritorious schism of 
Henry VIII. barring perhaps, the influence of their bad example 
upon the mind of that tyrannical prince. While a catholic, he 
had published a book against Luther, and persisted till his dying 
day in his hatred of Lutheranism. The new form of religion 
which he obtruded upon the nation, disgusted equally both pro- 
testants and catholics. But under the infant king Edward VI. 
Peter Martyr and Bernardin Okinus introduced the Calvinistic 
principles. 

To the more attentive of our readers the rapid progress of 



L U T 247 

Lutheranism will not appear astonishing. In 1521 Charles V„ 
in the diet of Worms, had indeed proscribed its author, and 
issued a decree unfavorable to his adherents : but Frederic's 
protection and partiality for Luther's system rendered it of no 
avail. The members of the diet of Nuremburg in 1523 were 
more eager to redress their own real or pretended grievances', 
than those of the church ; and the two succeeding diets held at 
Spire, the one in 1525, the other in 1529, were not less friendly 
to the new religion, because it promoted their several avaricious 
or ambitious views. The princes of the empire that had em- 
braced the sentiments of Luther, here protested against the im- 
perial decrees ; and from this circumstance is derived the name 
of Protestant, 

In 1530, at the diet of Augsbourg, the princes above mentioned 
signed a confession of their faith, which from this diet was deno- 
minated the Confession of Augsbourg. Here they pledged their 
future submission to the decrees of a general council — to be as- 
sembled by the pope. This solemn engagement they did not 
eventually think proper to make good. They afterwards at 
Smalcald made a league against the emperor, and all that should 
adhere to his interests. Luther himself approved it, and coun- 
selled moreover a general war against the pope and whoever 
might presume, like him, to oppose the promulgation of his new 
gospel. 

Paul III. in concert with the emperor and the king of France, 
in 1542 convoked a general council at Trent — to terminate the re- 
ligious contests which compromised the tranquillity of the empire 
and that of Europe. The synod was not closed before the year 
1563 ; nor would the protestants be ruled by its decisions, not- 
withstanding their repeated promises to that effect. Luther in- 
deed, was now no more. The pacification concluded at Passaw 
between Charles V. and the princes of the empire, and subse- 
quently that of Augsbourg, had secured to the protestants reli- 
gious toleration and liberty of conscience; but their mutual 
dissentions, and their quarrels with the Zuinglians and Calvinists 
— as well as with the catholics, continued ; till the treaty of Mun- 
ster, called also the treaty of Osnabourg and of Westphalia, in 
1648 placed things nearly on the same footing as at the com- 
mencement of the French revolution. It was guaranteed by all 
the potentates of Europe. 

This peace however, was by no means adequate to produce 
either harmony of sentiment or union of heart. Confusion is 
the natural result of the very principles of the reformation. Of 
this assertion we shall soon behold a striking proof in the short 
narrative of one of the most zealous champions of Protestant- 
ism, — the Ecclesiastical and Political History of Hornius : — 

" Luther having established," says this learned protestant, 
" the right which each individual possesses — of interpreting the 



■<4B 1 U T 

sacred scriptures, asserted too, that aided by the light of heaven^ 
he possessed also the privilege of affixing to them their true in- 
terpretation. Admitting with Luther, at least the former of 
these principles, Zuinglius presents himself; and boldly declares 
that — not Luther, but himself long before Luther — had explored 
tfteir genuine interpretation. Carlostad, with equal intrepidity 
proclaims, that he has made a more accurate discovery of their 
real signification than either of the above apostles; and without 
demur, in defiance of his master's authority, he breaks in 
pieces the images which the latter had suffered to remain in the 
churches at Wirtemberg, and stirs up great commotions in that 
city. Not long after, these three leaders of the reformation 
commenced their dispute respecting the holy eucharist; — a dis- 
pute in which were often blended circumstances the most ludi- 
crous, with acts of violence the most atrocious. The champions 
©n each side,, drew after them individually an immense multi- 
tude of followers in different kingdoms, provinces and districts f 
just as the pretended evidence of the sense of the scriptures, or 
their pretended inspiration, actuated them ; — or rather, just as 
their ignorance, and their passions, in unison with those of 
their fanatic leaders, misguided them." 

" During the contestation between Luther, Zuinglius and Car- 
lostadius, a Silesian gentleman of the name of Schwenckfeld, 
discovered another interpretation of the text this is my body, 
extremely different both from that of Luther, and from that of 
his two antagonists, He maintained, that the word this ex- 
presses — not elemental, but purely spiritual bread and wine ; 
and proceeding from error to error, contended soon, that the 
letter of the scripture is useless, and that all exterior ministry in 
the church is superfluous. Schwenckfeld drew after him a 
considerable number of partisans, whose descendants still sub- 
sist unmolested, in certain villages of Silesia." 

" Beginning with the same maxims as the first reformers,* 
and raising upon them the fabric of their singular institution, 
Stork and Munster, — both of them the disciples, and the latter 
the great favourite of Luther, — about the same period commenced 
teaching a variety of tenets, in opposition to the dictates of their 
master. The most prominent of these tenets were — the necessi- 
ty of rebaptising all that had been baptised in their infancy — 
and the establishment of a new kingdom foretold in the apoca- 
lypse ; which was to last a thousand years, and to originate with 
their mission. Fired with the ambition, and convinced of the 
necessity of forming and completing this new empire, they 
taught — that it was pious, expedient, and even necessary, to de- 
pose and murder all princes and magistrates, who should ven- 
ture to oppose its establishment. Munster assured his followers, 
that God had given him in a vision the sword of Gideon, and 
even commissioned the archangel Michael to assist him. Suffice 



LUT ,249 

it to say, that soon above 100,000 deluded creatures believed and 
followed the impostor ; upwards of 50,000 of whom perished in 
the field, the wretched victims of his ambition, and the dupes of 
their own credulity. The greater part of them fell — without 
either fighting, or attempting to run away ; for Munster had 
assured them, that he would stop the balls in the foldings of his 
robe, or catch them ; so that no one should be wounded." 

" After the death of Munster who met with the fate which his 
crimes had amply merited, his sect — far from decreasing, con- 
tinued to multiply, and counted an immense herd of adherents 
in every country where the seeds of the reformation had been 
sown. He had several successors, some of them as ambitious, 
and many of them as frantic as himself; — Rotman, Knipper- 
doling, Matthews, and John of Leyden — who from the hono- 
rable profession of a taylor aspired to the supreme dignity, and 
was in fact proclaimed by his fanatic party — the Universal Mo- 
varcli of the Earth ; and this religious ruffian — breathing nothing 
but inspiration, spread wide around him slaughter and devasta- 
tion. Fortunately, however, for mankind, the dreadful pow- 
er which these men possessed, and the more dreadful effects 
which it produced, were but transient. The states- in which the 
sect was most numerous, alarmed for their own security, adopt- 
ed measures to repress it ; and these measures, in proportion to 
their rigor, were in general, effectual. The consequence was — 
that, as they could no longer be seditious with impunity, they 
gradually became more moderate ; and, chiefly by the influence 
of Menno, abandoned the idea of recurring any more to arms. 
Having, therefore, sunk to a state of indolence or inaction ; and 
instead of contending with princes for their kingdoms, disputing 
with themselves about words, they soon began to fritter into dis- 
tinct societies, which have very little resemblance with each other, 
except in the general appellation of Anabaptists. They are di- 
vided into Mennonites, Hutterians, Gabrielites, Moravians, 
&c. &c. among whom there prevails a degree of confusion, 
equal to that which reigned at Babel. Some deny the Trinity ; 
some the distinction of persons ; some maintain that all learn- 
ing, particularly that of the languages, is derived from Satan ; 
with other like absurdities. Such in a word is the multiplicity 
of their discordant opinions, that it is difficult if not impossible, 
to unravel their religious system." 

" From the school of the Anabaptists came forth several new 
heresiarchs — George Delpht, who called himself the true Mes- 
siah, and was followed by great numbers of disciples in several 
parts of Holland — Henry surnamed House of Charity ^ who 
ranked himself above Moses and Jesus Christ — William Postel, 
who taught — that himself had delivered men from eternal death, 
while his wife had done the same good turn in favor of the wo~ 
man hind** 

i i 



250 LUT 

" About this period began to appear on the theatre of the 
reformation — the sect of the Socinians. Their doctrines are a 
compound of those of Ebion, Arius, Sabellius, Photinus, Abe- 
lard ; and of several other heresiarchs. With a boldness, says 
our protestant historian, which Christianity should not tolerate, 
and which is dangerous to civil governments, they began to cor- 
rupt and undermine all the truths of revelation. Servetus was 
the first founder of the sect : Gentilis gave it some celebrity ; 
but Laelius Socinus the bosom friend of Calvin, diffused it ; 
while Faustus the nephew of Laelius, organised it into system." 

"To the aid of impiety in 1552 rose up also — the heresy of the 
Ubiquitarians, who in addition to many other errors maintained., 
that the body of Jesus Christ is every where personally present $ 
and that all the properties of the Divine nature were infused into 
his human nature by the hypostatic union. Hence they taught, 
that the body of Christ is contained — in a glass of beer, in a sack 
of corn, in the rope with which the criminal is hanged. Their 
first apostle was John Westphalus, a minister of Hambourg, 
succeeded by Brentius, Wigard, Illyricus, Oseander, Schmid- 
ling and several others, the greatness of whose learning was ex- 
ceeded, only by the greatness of their impiety." 

" In Holland the reformation had hardly superseded catholi- 
city when its tranquillity began to be disturbed by the new and 
formidable society of the Arminians. These, treading in the foot- 
steps of the Socinians, or more properly real Socinians them- 
selves — not only entertain the most impious tenets respecting 
grace and predestination ; (though not half so impious in fact, as 
those of either Luther or Calvin) they also teach that it is wrong 
to worship the Holy Ghost, and that the Trinity is merely an 
object of speculation, &a Armed with these errors, — the Ar- 
minians formed a schism in the churches of the Low Countries, 
the suppression of which excited fresh seditions and disturbances 
throughout the nation. At length, however, the arm of perse* 
cution, aided by the synod of Dort, did re-establish peace, 
though nothing like unanimity." 

" Among the reformed churches, frequent attempts were made 
to bring about a reconciliation : but such was the turbulence of 
their respective leaders, and such their ardor for error and inno- 
vation, that every attempt proved fruitless and abortive. Hulse- 
man, Calovius, Danhauwer, with a crowd of other reformers 
and particularly those of Wittenburg, armed themselves with 
new violence to create divisions." 

" In England," continues Hornius, " as in all other coun- 
tries, the introduction of the reformation was the introduction 
of discord, disorder and division. The passions of Henry had 
altered many cf the ancient doctrines of the church. Edward 
added fresh changes to those of Henry ; and Elizabeth improved 
upon the innovations of the infant king. However, along witk 



LUT 251 

All these changes, there was still permitted to subsist a multi- 
tude of popish ceremonies, and the tyrant anti- christian institu- 
tion of episcopacy. All these in general, but particularly the 
latter, were extremely obnoxious to the followers of Calvin, 
who at this period were become very numerous, and very for- 
midable to the nation — under the name of Puritans. The con- 
test between these and the established sect forms a very striking 
epoch in the annals of English history." 

" The Puritans early began to marshal themselves into va- 
rious classes — of Brownists, Separatists, Semi-separatists, Ro- 
binsonians, and the numerous sects of Independents : the number 
exceeds forty. In short, England was infected with the venom 
of every species of corrupted opinion. There was nothing sa- 
cred that was not reprobated as profane ; nor hardly any thing- 
profane which was not held up as sacred. Even the most igno- 
rant, and the very dregs of the populace became preachers. 
They preached — (the case is precisely the same with the Metho- 
dists at present) ; and the mob was all credulity and attention. 
How well, — to use the words of the commentators of the 
English bible on the 25th verse of the 10th chapter of Genesis 
— how well does the name of Phaleg become our times ? How 
well might we give this name — (it signifies division) — to every 
child that comes into the world ! How easy would it be to fill 
up our annals with this name ; so deplorable are our divisions. 
Never since the creation of the world did there exist so many 
monstrous opinions, as there are at present in England." 

" From the body of the Independents, as from the Trojan horse* 
there issued, as already has been noticed, more than forty dif- 
ferent sects. Some of them rejected the scriptures ; some taught 
that there was no longer any church of God whatever upon 
earth, — these were called Waiters: — some maintained, that 
there was indeed a church, but that it was hidden ; and these 
were called Seekers, The opinions of some of these sectaries are 
too horrible to be related. For my own part, 1 think as those 
do, who say that England is the great nursery of error, and the 
grand theatre where reigns the most dreadful licentiousness of 
believing, writing, and of teaching too, whatever passion or 
folly is pleased to dictate. The history of the heresies and 
schisms of other nations presents nothing to be compared with 
the scenes of horror, which it exhibits." Here, I think, Hornius 
shews some partiality, and would willingly have his readers 
overlook the equally impious and unaccountably absurd opinions 
of his fellow-countrymen, from whom this nation borrowed its 
unorthodoxy. 

He goes on : " At periods also, still more recent than those 
to which I have alluded, Great Britain continued to hold out 
to the rest of Europe (now indeed somewhat recovered from its 
late insanity) nearly the same exemplifications of extravagance 

j i2 



252 L U~T 

and impiety with the above. You might often find in one 
family as many religions as there were individuals that composed 
it. The pretext and the apology for all this was — liberty of 
conscience, and the privilege of universal toleration. Nothing 
in reality is more flattering to vanity and self-love, than to be 
the arbiter of one's own belief." — Hornius. 

Such is the description given by this enlightened protestant 
— of the errors and confusion resulting from the reformation ; 
and such the concluding reflections which he makes upon the 
principle from which they emanated. It is contained in the fol- 
lowing words of Luther — Judge for yourselves : this is the sole 
rule of truth, and the sole rule of gospel liberty. What a prolific 
source of errors and impieties is here laid open to the human 
mind ; and how easy is it by it to account for all the heresies 
and abuses, the disorders and the horrors of the reformation ! 
" Surely," exclaims the author of the Sermons for the Sundays 
after Pentecost, from whom I have copied the above ; " surely — 
if truth be divine and essentially one ; and if the profession of 
truth, as undoubtedly it is, be essential to salvation ; then should 
the path which conducts to it be more secure, and the means of 
attaining it, more easy. To permit all in matters of religion — 
yea, to command all to follow their individual private judgement, 
— this appears to me worse than nonsense. It would, I think, 
be just equally wise to command the ignorant and unexperienced 
landsman — without sail or rudder, without helm or compass — to 
sail amid storms and darkness, to the pole ; — just equally wise to 
bid the populace be temperate and sober, and yet open pipes of 
wine, or oceans of liquor, to their intemperance !" 

" Since the period when Hornius drew up his genealogy of the 
errors of the reformation, it is well known how much the fright- 
ful generation has increased. Error since that epoch has been 
daily begetting error, and fancy and fanaticism producing folly 
and superstition. Each parent sect has, with portentous fe- 
cundity, generated an offspring too numerous, in some in- 
stances, for industry to account — an offspring soon, like its 
parent heresy, producing another offspring, innumerable as 
itself, and equally positive of its own exclusive claim to orthodoxy. 
But why look for unity and order where individuals have all an 
equal share of liberty — where each one has the right to judge 
and decide, and none the power to control his decision ? Ad- 
mit only — a similar system of civil liberty into politics, how soon 
would society exhibit a scene of anarchy and discord ? But, 
the fact is, protestant governments understand much better the 
nature of civil liberty, and regulate much more wisely, its in- 
fluences, than their churches fix the boundaries of their religious 
liberty." (Ibid. Serm.) 

But enough of Lutheranism and the effects of Lutheran fana- 
ticism. We have refuted its erroneous tenets respecting the 
hierarchy of the church, under the article Aerius j respecting 



LUT 25$ 

vows and the celibacy of the priesthood, under thatofViGi- 
lantius ; its errors regarding the nature of the catholic church, 
under the article Donatists ; those on transubstantiation, under 
the article Berengarius ; on laical communion in both kinds, 
under that of the Hussites, and the pope's supremacy, under 
the article Greeks. We will examine in few words the catho- 
lic doctrine concerning indulgences, the sacraments, the sacri- 
iice of the mass, the christian's rule of faith, and lastly, the in- 
fallibility of the church of Christ. Meanwhile we will just pre- 
mise, that if the whole body of the church of Christ did err in 
faith, as Luther asserts it did, but as we shall prove by and bye, 
it neither did nor could, consistently with the promises of Christ 
and with our creed ; — Luther and his jarring fellow-gospellers 
too, were much more liable themselve to error, and consequently, 
— to follow their new-invented system of religion >much more unsafe. 

Of Lidulgences. 

An indulgence , in the ecclesiastical acceptation of the term, 
means a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin after 
the Divine pardon has been obtained by the sacrament of pen- 
ance — as to the eternal punishment which awaited it in the life 
to come. This is a distinction which we find exemplified in the 
person of King David, and of the Israelites who perished in the 
wilderness, in consequence of their infidelities, which God had 
pardoned upon their repentance and at the instance of his ser- 
vant Moses, but still rigorously executed upon them his threat 
of a general exclusion from the Land of Promise, on account of 
the self-same prevarications, &c. 

As our Blessed Redeemer imparted only to the pastors of the 
church the power of remitting sin, to them exclusively it apper- 
tains, to enjoin to sinners appropriate works of penitence or sa- 
tisfaction — in proportion to their wants, or the grievousness of 
their crimes ; and there may exist also, sufficient reasons for oc- 
casionally diminishing the severity, or limiting the duration of 
such penalties. Hence it becomes the duty of the sovereign 
pontiff .and the other prelates of the church to accord indul- 
gences. Of this we have a remarkable instance in the conduct 
of St Paul towards the incestuous Corinthian, c. 5, 1 Cor. and 
ii. Cor. c. 2, v. 10. The church through every succeeding age 
has continued to adopt in practice the condescendence of the 
apostle. This fact is too notorious to admit being called in 
question ; and even protestants have approved it in the primitive 
church, while they affect to reprobate it in the church of Rome. 
They reason ill. For the very establishment of canonical injunc- 
tions, is an invincible argument against them — of the belief which 
the church had ever retained, that after the remission of the 
eternal guilt of sin, together with its eternal punishment, the 
sinner notwithstanding, is obliged to satisfy the Divine justice by 



S54 LUT 

temporary expiations. If then he should neglect to discharge 
the obligation here, he must of course pay off the debt here- 
after. Consequently, he cannot be acquitted validly on earth, 
without reaping the advantage of this indulgence also in a fu- 
ture state. If once you grant that the sinner, at his departure 
hence indebted to the Divine justice for venial offences, is liable 
to suffer temporary pain, (for none can enter heaven defiled 
with the smallest stain of sin) and that he may be relieved by 
the prayers and suffrages of the church, why not allow that they 
may prove beneficial to his soul, and release him eventually 
from his sufferings ? 

Nor have the popes, as some have misconceived, deprived the 
bishops of the privilege of granting indulgences ; but the church 
has wisely reserved to them exclusively, the power of according 
plenary indulgences in favor of the entire body of the faithful ; 
because they alone have jurisdiction over the universal church. 
There are circumstances in which it is meet, that all true be- 
lievers throughout the universe, concur unanimously in offering 
prayers and good works, with a view to obtain of Almighty 
God his abundant graces, in behalf of the whole catholic com- 
munity. To whom, we wish to know, does it more properly 
appertain to invite them to this pious harmony, than to the Fa- 
ther and Pastor of the universal church ? We do not deny, that 
there have existed abuses in these latter ages, greater than existed 
in the primitive times. But, to correct abuses, we must not 
combat them with the arguments of sophism and false reasoning, 
nor with observations equally devoid of piety, of justice, and of 
truth. These, in fact, were the unhallowed weapons with which 
Luther and Calvin, in declaiming against abuses — attempted to 
subvert the the unity of the catholic faith. Indulgences, it is 
true, had been too lavishly dispensed : it was easy to retrench 
the redundancy : but as their origin was laudable, the things 
themselves should have been suffered to remain inviolate. Gene- 
ral indulgences, like those termed Jubilees, which powerfully re- 
commend to the faithful — the worthy participation of the sacra- 
ments, — the doing of alms, — fasting and similar public acts of 
virtue, are indisputably a public good. Even at Paris, the very 
centre of incredulity and vice, infidel philosophy itself was com- 
pelled to acknowledge — the salutary effects of the last christian 
jubilee. 

Nothing can be more reasonable than the decree of the council 
of Trent relating to indulgences (Sess. 25.) " As the power of 
according indulgences," says the synod, " was by Jesus Christ 
entrusted to his church which, from its very origin, has been 
always in the habit of using this divine commission, the sacred 
council declares and formally defines, that this usage ought to 
be preserved as beneficial to christian people, and confirmed by 
preceding councils ; and it pronounces anathema to all 
those who pretend that indulgences are unprofitable, or that the 



L U T 255 

church is not authorised to grant them. It desires nevertheless, 
that in granting them due moderation be observed, conformably 
with the laudable practice established from time immemorial in 
the church ; lest a too great facility in granting them should en- 
feeble ecclesiastic discipline. In regard of the abuses which have 
crept in, and have given a handle to false teachers to declaim 
against indulgences, the sacred council with the design to correct 
them, ordains by the present decree, in the first place — that every 
species of sordid profit be removed : it enjoins the bishops to no- 
tice whatever abuses they shall discover in their dioceses, to de- 
nounce them to their provincial council, and afterwards to the 
sovereign pontiff'," &c. 

By an indulgence of forty days, &c. we understand — the remis- 
sion of a penalty equivalent to a course of penitence for forty days, 
&c. prescribed by the ancient canons ; and by a plenary indul- 
gence — the remission of all the punishment prescribed by these 
penitential canons for every kind of spiritual delinquency. 
But it is not by any means a releasement from the obligation of 
doing penance; which is universally binding upon all the faithful — 
unless you do penance, you shall all alike 'perish, (St Matt) 

Luther and those who adhere to the confession of Augsbourg, 
pretend, that the effiacy of the sacraments depends on the faith 
of the receiver ; that they were instituted solely to nourish our 
faith, and that they do not confer grace even upon those that 
oppose no obstacle to prevent it. The catholic church has al- 
ways taught the reverse of this doctrine, and has invariably 
ascribed to the sacraments a real efficacy ; a virtue productive 
of sanctification : whoever is acquainted with the writings of the 
fathers, must allow this to be incontestible. Nor is it hard to 
comprehend that, as the grace which sanctifieth, is a gift of the 
Holy Ghost, God should have decreed to grant this grace, this 
gift of the Holy Ghost — to none but the worthy receivers of the 
sacraments. Thus would sanctifying grace be attached to the 
application of the sign ; and consequently, this sign would of it- 
self produce a sanctifying grace as its instrumental cause — 
whether morally or physically, is a mere scholastic dispute. 
The church, however, does not teach that proper dispositions 
are unnecessary in the receiver, but that these dispositions are no 
more than the conditions required in a person actually to receive 
grace, and not that grace is annexed to the conditions themselves 
as to its cause : thus in order to see, it is a necessary condition to 
have eyes ; but although a person have eyes, he sees not in the 
dark ; he must have light too, which alone is properly the cause 
of vision. This is precisely what we understand by the school 
terms ex opere operato — in contra-distinction to those others equal- 
ly in use with theologians — ex opere operantis. 

Such is the doctrine of christian antiquity regarding the holy 
sacraments. The catholic church has always numbered seven j 



tm L U T 

Luther and his Augsbourg confessionalists only three ; the pro- 
testants of England two. AH the schismatical churches separat- 
ed from the church of Rome ever since the birth of Arianism,, 
to this present day, maintain seven sacraments with the catholics of 
all ages, as may be seen in the articles of Eutychians, Nesto- 
rians, Greeks, Armenians, Cophts, Abyssinians, &c. Con- 
sequently, the doctrine of the catholic church touching the sa- 
craments — was not introduced by the Roman pontiffs, as the 
enemies of catholicity would fain persuade their readers. 

Catholics, moreover, ascribe to three of the sacraments, 
namely, baptism, confirmation and order — a character, or kind 
of indelible mark in the soul, permanently inherent. The dis- 
putes of theologians respecting the nature of this character, do 
not render its existence dubious, as Fra Paolo would insinuate. 
With equal reason might one call in question the existence of 
any phenomenon in nature, though universally admitted ; mere- 
ly because naturalists disagree in their mode of explaining it. 
Catholic antiquity also has ever taught the reverse of the re- 
forming doctrine concerning the proper minister of the sacra- 
ments. Luther and his followers pretend — not only that each 
individual among the faithful is the legitimate minister of alt 
the sacraments indiscriminately, but even that those which were 
administered only in jest, and upon the stage, were not less 
true and valid sacraments than those conferred with due solem- 
nity in the churches. This palpable absurdity the catholic 
church in like manner rejected and condemned* 

The controversy relating to the sacrifice of the mass, accord- 
ing to the just remark of the great Rossuet, should stand or fall 
with that of the real presence. For as the votaries of the re- 
formation scruple not to offer to God the Father, his Son Jesus- 
Christ as present to their faith ; if they believed him present in 
reality, they surely would not hesitate to offer him to his eternal 
Father as really present. Now this true and real presence of 
our Redeemer in the eucharist is actually admitted by the Lu- 
therans — in opposition to the Sacramentarians : against whom 
see the article Berengarius. Luther, in abolishing private 
masses, did not suppress the mass itself. He did no more than 
introduce a few alterations. The abolition of private masses, 
if we are to credit Luther himself, was the fruit of a conference 
which he had with the devil, who, he candidly acknowledges, con- 
vinced him of the necessity of abolishing them. See this ex- 
traordinary adventure related at large in Luther's own words in 
his work Upon the Private Mass. If any of our readers wish 
to have the doctrine of the Real Presence as professed even, by 
the church of England, more fully discussed, the learned Dr 
Hawarden will give them complete satisfaction in his second 
volume of the Church of Christ, on the article Transubstan- 
tiate on. 



U T 257 



The grounds upon which protestants have separated from the ca~ 
tholic church — inadmissible. 

The errors and corruptions which Luther and his fellow re- 
formers alleged against the church of Rome, as the causes of 
their separation, we have fully proved, were false charges and 
the grossest misrepresentations ; as will appear from the perusal 
of the present article and those of— Catholics, Berengarius, 
Zuinglius, Aerius, Jovinianists, Iconoclasts, &c. &c. 
Even the most enlightened among the protestant writers them- 
selves, have been compelled to acknowledge, that this church 
taught no fundamental error. See Tillotson's Serm. ii. p. 7 1 ; 
Chillingworth's Protestant Religion, &c. 

" But although, by an impossible supposition, it could be 
proved — that the catholic church was heretical and idolatrous, 
the reformers still would not be justified in the attempt to esta- 
blish a new ministry, or to usurp the functions of the ministry 
already established ; the usurpation of the pastoral charge — 
without mission either ordinary or extraordinary — being always 
criminal, and in all circumstances absolutely inexcusable. It is 
presumptuously arrogating to oneself — that which is the gift of 
God alone, and which none can lawfully receive but from his 
hand. Nor has he any where revealed that in the new law, 
after the first establishment of his church, he would ever com- 
municate the pastoral power by any other way, than by the chan- 
nel of succession. Consequently, none can be assured of ever 
having received it, but through the medium of this legitimate 
succession ; and those who have assumed it otherwise, are noto- 
riously usurpers. To be forcibly convinced of this truth, we 
have only to take a retrospective view of the predicament, in 
which the reformed were placed, in the ideas of their very 
ministers : it was no other than that of converts from 
heresy. They had been adorers of the Host : they had invoked 
the saints, and venerated their relics ; they had afterwards relin- 
quished this practice : they were by consequence become ortho- 
dox by a change of sentiment; and such precisely are denomi- 
nated converted heretics. But every heretic by the very pro- 
fession of heresy forfeits the right — of exercising legitimately the 
functions annexed to the orders previously received, although 
he still retains the power of exercising them validly. The lawful 
exercise of his authority is suspended ipso facto, till his reconci- 
liation with the church. But, to what church have the reformed 
been ever reconciled ? Evidently to none at all. So far from it, 
they established new raised communions by their own private 
authority, without giving themselves the trouble to examine 
— whether there existed not a true church, to which they were 

Kk 



258 L U T 

obliged to be united in faith. Nor can their pretensions to an 
extraordinary mission be, on any warrantable grounds, admitted. 
An extraordinary vocation must be proved by miracles; and, 
unfortunately, the reformers can produce no miracles to attest 
the justice of their claims. Hence — the inference is plain as 
demonstration — they have erected a church without authority ; 
consequently, they are schismatics, since they have relinquished 
a society which was in possession of the ministry, and from which 
they have received no mission." Mr Johnson's Vindication, in 
reply to Dr Porteas. 



Of the rule of faith. 

Luther and his fellow reformers will have holy scripture to^ 
be the sole rule of faith ; and " the late Dr Porteus, bishop of 
London, asserts," says Mr Johnson in his Vindication, " that 
the scriptures contain a full and clear account of Christianity 9 
written by the very apostles and first disciples of our Lord him- 
self, honestly delivered down into our hands." (Page 6 of his 
pretended Coufutation of the Errors of the Church of Rome.) 
This would be much to the purpose if clearly proved from scrip- 
ture alone; but when, for the chief proof of one part of that 
assertion, we are referred to the general consent of christians 
to hand down the sacred books to us — with an assurance of 
their being entire, inspired, uncorrupted and duly translated, 
(ibid, p. 3, 4, 5, &c.) this looks so very like giving up the 
assertion, that the confuter wishes to put a bar to the conse- 
quences of that way of reasoning, by telling us, that " protes- 
tants receive scripture by no means upon the authority of tra- 
dition merely'' (p. 9.) But if not upon the authority of tra- 
dition merely ; therefore — not upon the authority of scrip- 
ture merely : by consequence, scripture alone does not lay the 
first foundation of our knowledge of Christianity. 

How then is it possible the scriptures should contain a full 
and clear account of christianism ? " Protestants," resumes 
Dr Porteus, « receive the scripture partly on account of its own 
reasonableness, and the characters of Divine wisdom in it; 
partly from the testimony which one part of it bears to the 
other ;" but if only partly on these accounts, the authority of 
scripture is not learned from scripture alone. Besides, if this 
internal evidence of the integrity and the inspiration of scrip- 
ture, be so glaring, that it is recognisable by every reader of 
the bible in the eighteenth century ; how happened it that 
several books of scripture now received by protestants, were not 
accounted canonical by the whole church for some ages — till by 
a general consent of christians, concentrating the scattered rays 
of antiquity, they were at length received ? (Walton, Prolegom. 



LUT 259 

*. 4, 56.) For, as to the testimony of Jews and heathens, 
whatever weight it may have, it is not scripture : so that this 
momentous, and, in the protestant creed, this fundamental arti- 
cle — the canon of the sacred books — cannot by human art be 
accurately learned from scripture alone ; consequently, the 
scriptures do not contain a full account of Christianity." Ibid. 

" When we have agreed what is scripture — whatnot; we 
would wish to be informed — in what book of holy writ we read a 
full and clear account of infant baptism, or of the obligation of 
keeping holy the Sunday ? The institution of baptism recorded 
Matt. 28, 19, leaves it wholly undetermined — whether infants 
ought or ought not to be baptised. If all must be instructed 
before baptism, as the text seems to indicate, (Matt. 28) infants 
1 hen are positively excluded from the benefit of that sacrament. 
But if instruction be not always requisite before the ministration 
of baptism, where is this exemption in favour of infants expressed, 
in any plain text of scripture ? That there is no exemption, 
would rather appear from Mar. xvi. 16, Acts ii. 38, viii. 37, 
and i. Pet. iii. 21. It is true, we are told, Mar. x. that infants 
came to our Saviour ; not however, to be christened, but to re- 
ceive his blessing. (See Mat. xix. 13.) If heaven be for such, 
(Mar. x.) might not the reason be — because infants are an em- 
blem of humble christians. (Matt, xviii. 3, 4.) If baptism seem 
to be a necessary condition of salvation, Jo. iii. 5, does not 
faith appear to be equally required, Mar. xvi. 16. In short, 
if we read in scripture of whole families being baptised, we do 
not read that there was one infant in any of those families, nor 
any clear proof that if there had been, they would have been 
baptised." Ibid. 

" With regard to the obligation of keeping holy the Sunday, 
we cannot even learn from scripture alone — with any certainty — 
which day of the week is Sunday. The Sabbath mentioned in 
the ten commandments (Exod. xx. and Deut. v.) was not Sun- 
day, but Saturday. Now it will be allowed by protestants 
as well as catholics, that the commandments are approved by 
the gospel, as to all moral and natural duties: we should 
therefore be inclined to infer, that the Saturday ought to 
be kept holy, did we not borrow our light in this in- 
stance from some other source than scripture. Nor should we 
be of course exempt from the obligation of sanctifying the Sa- 
turday too, although from scripture alone a proof might be 
made out for the obligation of sanctifying the Sunday. This, 
however, is not the case ; for the Lord's-day mentioned Rev. 
1 , does not necessarily designate the Sunday in particular, ra- 
ther than any other day of the week ; nor do the circumstances 
of breaking bread (Acts xx.) and collecting alms on the first day 
of the week, prove it to have been a holiday. For we know 
that the disciples broke bread daily: (Acts ii.) nor is charity to 

Kk 2 



260 L U T 

the necessitous a sufficient mark of a holiday — among good chris- 
tians." 

" To lay aside infant baptism as unnecessary, and to neglect 
the religious observation of the Sunday, would bean unsufferable 
liberty even in the judgment of protestants, although these things 
are in no part of scripture clearly expressed : even with pro- 
testants, they are important points of christian faith and con- 
duct. Therefore the obscure manner, in which these and many 
other not inconsiderable articles, relating both to faith and morals, 
are expressed in scripture, as well as the total neglect of all the 
sacred writers to give us an exact canon of holy writ, and an evi- 
dent mark of every inspired text is a convincing proof — that the 
scriptures were not designed to contain a full and clear account 
of Christianity, nor, consequently, to be the only rule of faith." — 
Mr Johnson's Vindication, c. 1. 



Apostolical tradition one part of the rule of faith. 

« Whether the apostles could have written a full and compe- 
tent rule of faith, if God had so directed, — is a question perfectly 
irrelevant to the point in debate. The fact is, they had no such 
commission. The precept of their divine master enjoined them — to 
preach the gospel to every creature^ and to teach them to observe 
all things whatsoever he had commanded. (Mar. xvi. 15. Mat. 
xxviii. 20.) SS. Andrew, and James the son of Zebedee, with 
other apostles who never wrote at all, but only delivered the 
truths of the gospel by tradition, complied, we presume, with the 
full import of their commission, not less than others of the sa- 
cred college, who did leave some instructions in writing. Hence 
it follows, that if none of the apostles or disciples of Christ had 
committed any thing to writing, the injunction given them to 
teach all nations, and to transmit their doctrine to the latest pos- 
terity — even unto the consummation of the world, (Mat. xxviii.) 
would still have been observed : all necessary knowledge would 
have been conveyed safe to the most distant ages — through the 
channel of tradition. Where then is the necessity of exploding 
tradition, as a thing which could not long afford us in the ideas 
of Dr Porteus (p. 6, &c.) any security of the truth ? It must 
be owned, says the bishop, that our Saviour delivered his doc- 
trine to the apostles, and they to all the world — by word of mouth, 
and that this way of delivery at first was sufficient ; (and why 
not still sufficient ?) and that therefore, continues he, St Paul 
exhorts the Thessalonians, to hold fast the traditions he had 
taught them, — whether by word or by writing," (2 Thess. ii. 
14.) " Some traditions Christ himself, and his apostles, recom- 
mended, though they condemned such human inventions as are 
contrary to revealed truths. (Mar. vii. Col. ii.) But if some 



L U T 261 

traditions were then approved, why may not they be still ap- 
proved ? Where does our Saviour or St Paul insinuate, that the 
oral communication of the unwritten traditions, should be autho- 
rised only during the first age ? Does not the apostle rather, 
plainly intimate that the same method of conveyance was to be 
continued in all succeeding generations, when he says to his dis- 
ciple Timothy; the things which thou hast heard of me among 
many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who may 
BE able to teach others also, (2 Tim. ii. 2.) Is it one iota 
more impossible to convey safe to posterity, the apostolical creed, 
and some few other short instructions, than to deliver entire and 
uncorrupted the several books of the Old and New Testament ? 
The apostle's creed and all necessary doctrines were remembered 
— even in the tenth and other contiguous dark ages ; — else how 
come we by them in the nineteenth ? If in the conveyance of 
tradition much depend on the sincerity and truth of persons 
liable to ignorance and other worse qualities (p. 8. Confut.) is 
not equal dependence on persons of similar character requisite in 
the conveyance of holy writ ? Great dependence on the authori- 
ty of others is clearly unavoidable — by all who do not read the 
Bible in the original languages ; the New Testament in Greek, 
the Old in Hebrew, Chaldaic, &c. Even they who apply their 
study to Oriental tongues, must yet rely on the skill and honesty 
of many persons, not only in consulting grammars, lexicons 
and masters ; but in reading only transcripts taken by we know 
not how many different hands, or copies frequently altered by ig- 
norant, blundering or malicious writers and printers. Therefore 
the tradition of all necessary points of doctrine might pass with 
equal safety, as the knowledge of the sacred books, — through the 
several ages preceding the reformation, when the catholic reli- 
gion was much more widely extended. So that the hard words 
popish tyranny and darkness (p. 6. ibid) can fall only on catholic 
countries in modern times. Yet the very mob would acquit 
them of the charge — of being more ignorant than their ancestors ; 
=and the learned are well apprized, that sound criticism and a sa- 
gacious detection of impositions, are now not less attended to by 
catholics on the continent, than among protestants in the British 
isles." 

H The scriptures indeed, while they retain that purity which 
catholic approved editions actually do retain at present, but of 
which we have no security for future times, are allowed to be a 
great help to preserve untainted the depositum of faith, and the 
chief rule whereby articles of faith may be determined. But 
they are not the whole rule of christian faith ; they are not the 
only channel through which we receive the doctrines of eternal 
life. They were not the only channel of divine faith in the 
beginning of Christianity ; the church was christian before the 
New Testament was committed to writing at all, as is confessed 



262 L U T 

by all parties. Nor can they even at this day, be the only 
channel of divine faith to the greatest part of christians ; since 
far the greatest part have already settled their notions on religi- 
ous subjects at an early period of life,— either before they were in 
ta capacity to read the scriptures, or at least before they were at all 
qualified to collect the system of Christianity from scripture 
alone. They cannot be the only channel of divine faith with 
regard to infant baptism, and other points not clearly contained 
in holy writ. All this even prejudice the most besotted must ac- 
knowledge. Nor do persons in power generally allow indivi- 
duals full liberty to collect their faith from scripture alone, 
although, consistently with protestant principles, this should be 
granted to all indiscriminately. Canons, articles, and restrain- 
ing constitutions, are a standing demonstration against pro- 
testants, that tradition is even with them an integral part of the 
rule of faith. Hence the whole rule of faith and morals — is scripture 
and apostolical tradition. If it be urged that < tradition is fallible,' 
(Confut. p. 9) True ; unless recommended by infallible authori- 
ty : without this, we are not able to distinguish with absolute 
certainty, genuine apostolical tradition from that which is spuri- 
ous, nor, sometimes, to discern with certainty the sense of that 
which is acknowledged genuine. But as much may be said of 
the books of holy writ ; as appears from what has been already 
proved. Indeed genuine apostolical tradition is allowed by the 
author of the Confutation (page 7) after St Paul, to have been of 
no less authority than the written word; and this is all that 
catholics contend for. So that the very objection levelled at the 
authority of tradition, does not at all weaken the conclusion 
already drawn — that apostolical tradition is one part of the rule of 
faith and life, scripture and apostolical tradition the whole rule. 
It merely shews the necessity of an authoritative interpreter of 
that rule, or the necessity of a judge qualified to determine with 
certainty, where may be found, and what is the sense of — the 
rule of faith and morals. This judge is the catholic church of 
God ; as we shall now proceed to demonstrate." 



Who is the judge and authoritative interpreter of the rule of 
faith and morals P 

" That the catholic church is this authoritative interpreter 
will manifestly appear, first, if we consider this church as an 
illustrious society ; secondly, if we reflect upon the privilege of 
infallibility promised to it by our Blessed Redeemer ; thirdly, if 
we attend to this same privilege easily deduced from the apostle's 
creed. The catholic church in the first place, considered merely 
as an illustrious society, has the least exceptionable title to be 
the authoritative interpreter of the rule of faith ; as will appear 



L U T 263 

from the following argument : — -Whatever deference may be due 
to the judgment of each private individual upon matters spi- 
ritual, the same is due in a greater degree to a decision of se- 
veral pastors of the church, and that in proportion to the num- 
bers uniting in this decision ; pre-supposing knowledge and 
abilities not unequal. Hence the opinion of one private person 
must be a far less weighty evidence, than the determination of 
a whole national church - 9 and this determination an evidence 
far less momentous, than the solemn decision of the pastors of 
the catholic church collectively ; especially as church pastors 
decide upon a point which, of all mankind, they are most likely 
to understand. To appeal from the united decision of the 
pastors of the church on a point of faith, cannot be less unrea- 
sonable in the nat»re of things, than to appeal from the uniform 
opinion of lawyers on a point of law, or from the judgment of 
physicians unanimously, on a medical subject. Every one would 
condemn the temerity of private judgment in opposition to such 
authority, in these instances. If then the deliberate determina- 
tion of the general voice of church pastors — be not of itself abso- 
lutely infallible, (for, considering such a decision in itself, or in 
its own nature, is considering it independently of the promises 
of Christ;) yet, would wisdom venture to oppose such an autho- 
rity ? — There are moreover several corroborating circumstances, 
which concur to ensure to that authority a still more irresistible 
force of credibility. The present decisions of the church, have 
also the advantage of long prescription ; even protestants allow 
them a quiet possession of many centuries before Luther. 
** Laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects and 
degrees of men, women and children of whole Christendom 
(a horrible and most dreadful thing to think, and not less blas- 
phemous to say) have been at once, say they, drowned in abo- 
minable idolatry, of all other vices most detested by God, and 
damnable to man, and that by the space of eight hundred years 
and more :" (it might with equal truth have said eight thousand.) 
See Book of Homilies approved by the 35th article of religion, 
part 3. " How strikingly probable will all this appear, if we attend 
to the nature of the Divine perfections ; — infinite goodness ; in- 
finite sanctity ; infinite truth ; — that God should abandon his 
church in the very sink of impious errors for a series of ages ! ! ! 
During these identical ages — this same poor abandoned church 
was in vain attacked by the united malice of tyrants, traitors, 
infidels and heretics ; all raging with fury to undermine and 
subvert her, all equally foiled in their atrocious attempt ! Inr 
stead of succumbing under the combined efforts of her mortal 
enemies, she always enjoyed the special blessing of Providence ; 
was constantly supported by the learned writings of eminent 
doctors ; confirmed by the Divine testimony of miracles ; sanc- 
tified by the heroic virtues of numberless saints ; illustrated by 



M4 LUT 

the blood of many martyrs, and embellished with the admirable 
purity of thousands of holy virgins. Even at this day, while 
the pretended reformation is every where disturbed with mul- 
tiplied dissentions, unceasing variations and perpetual revolts ; 
while it is branded by its very friends with unbridled lust and 
sacrilege in its origin, and with the most ungodly rapaciousness, 
instead of religious motives for its change of tenets — (see Heylin 
Hist, of the Reform, p. 2. Collier Eccles. Hist, vol ii. p. 23, 
&c.) — the catholic church, unalterable in its doctrines, un- 
blemished in its moral principles, uninterrupted in the orderly 
succession of its pastors, still embraces the greatest part of chris- 
tian nations within its pale. Now if each of these circumstances 
taken separately, carry not along with them full conviction^ 
they are — atleastwhen combined — an incontestifrleevidence; they 
render that society called the catholic church so illustrious, and 
give its testimony such preponderance, that it cannot in reason 
be rejected. Hence, upon the authority of this illustrious society^ 
we doubt not to admit the authenticity of the scriptures them- 
selves ; nor could the first reformers have any other evidence of 
nearly equal force. Upon the very same authority on which both 
catholics and the first reformers received the scriptures, catholics 
at this present day receive also — apostolical tradition ; and with 
equal reason — since the same authority is in both cases of equal- 
weight. Here therefore, we fix our foot. If upon the well-ground- 
ed authority of that illustrious society called the catholic church— 
we may safely take our rule of faith and practice y we may likewise 
upon the same well-grounded authority — safely take the sense of 
that rule." Ibid. 

" Moreover, that Christ has promised to his church the pri- 
vilege of infallibility, with relation to points of faith and the prirw 
ciples of good morals, we prove from the following words of our 
blessed Redeemer — Upon this rock I will build my church, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, (Mat. xvi. 1 8.) From 
this text catholics conclude, that the church shall not err in faith, 
and shall teach no other than sound principles of morals ; and 
consequently, that the church is in these respects infallible. We 
must of necessity admit either this exposition, or the exposition 
of some private person, or of some national church, or of some 
assembly or other greatly inferior to the illustrious society of the 
catholic church, which adopts the explanation above ; that is to 
say, we must otherwise admit an evidence which is not undeni- 
able, against an evidence which is undeniable. Nor do we thus 
assert, that the infallible authority of the church proves its own 
infallibility from scripture, as the Confutation insinuates, (p. 12.) 
We only maintain, that the authority of the illustrious society 
called the church, which in other instances is allowed to be un- 
deniable, should be allowed to be undeniable in this instance al- 
so— of a similar nature, in proving from scripture its just claims 



LUT 265 

to infallibility. So that the church, though not of its own nature 
absolutely infallible, proves its accidental infallibility — from the 
promises of Christ. For, to be not of itself infallible, and yet to 
be infallible by virtue of the promise of Christ, are two things 
very different, and very consistent the one with the other." Ibid. 

" From other texts of scripture, catholics demonstrate, that a 
charter of infallibility was granted by our Saviour to his church; 
for instance, among many others, from Mat. xviii. 17. For, 
supposing even — with the bishop of London, p. 13, 14, a particu- 
lar church to be there spoken of; when a particular church agrees 
with the catholic church, and composes private contestations by 
catholic principles, it constitutes itself a part of the catholic 
church, and therefore is equally to be heard — -on pain of the re- 
fractory party being looked upon as a heathen man and a publican. 
The same prerogative of infallibility we also prove from Mat. 
xxviii. 19, 20. For the commission itself here given to the 
apostles to teach and baptize, is not more plain, than the pro- 
mise of perpetual assistance in the execution of that commission, 
by the apostles and their successors the pastors of the church, 
till the end of time. — It should also be observed, that these and 
many other texts of scripture, ' (Jo. xiv. 16, 17 ; xvi. 13 ; 1 Tim. 
iii. 15, &c.) from which " catholics infer, that Christ and his 
Holy Spirit will always protect his church from error, mutually 
confirm and support each other." Ibid. 

" If private persons with his Lordship of London, p. 19, 
stand forth against what they think vain pretensions to infallibi- 
lity, because St John bids us try the Spirits, 1 Jo. iv. 1, and be- 
cause St Paul tells us to prove all things, 1 Thess. v. 21, — how, 
we ask, can we prove or try spiritual matters better, in the opi- 
nion of the apostles themselves, than by submitting the determi- 
nation of them to the pastors of the church whom God gave, as 
St Paul avers, to prevent our being any more tossed to and fro, 
and carried about by every wind of doctrine ? (Ephes. iv. 11, 16.) 
Is not this a more prudent metLod, than to leave the unlearned 
and the unstable, who wrest the scriptures to their own destruc- 
tion, (2 Pet. iii. 16) to decide by scripture what they are totally 
unqualified to do, with the evident risk of their eternal salva- 
tion ? This rule St John himself prescribes. Should it be al- 
leged that the Jewish synagogue had a stronger title to infalli- 
bility than the christian church, this will hardly be maintained 
when what is said in Deutronomy xvii. 8, &c. is diligently com- 
pared with Col. iii. 20, unless we be obliged to think our parents 
also, infallible: and when Ps. cxviii. 22, quoted and applied to 
the Jewish priests, Mat. xxi. 42, 45, has been collated with 
Mat. x. 16, 18, where something much more favorable is assert- 
ed in regard of the catholic church. But whether the Jewish 
church was or was not infallible before the coming of Christ, is 
a matter of no great moment to us, who by the grace of God are 

L 1 



26ft L U T 

not Jews. Had Christ cautioned us as earnestly against the 
leaven of the false doctrine of the pastors of the church, as he 
cautioned his disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees, (Mat. 
xvi. 6, 12,) we should have found as many exceptions in Mat. 
xvi. 18, as we do now in Mat. xxiii. 3 ; especially if miracles like 
those of Christ had been wrought by the opponents of church 
pastors : for the miraculous operations of Christ ought, surely, to 
have convinced the Jews that they were to listen to Him, rather 
than their jealous priesthood." Ibid. 

" But may not some of the members of the church be defiled 
by sin without falsifying what is said Matt. xvi. 18 ? They may. 
Some of them also may be deformed by latent error, skulking in the 
darkness of duplicity and subtile evasion, without any infringe- 
ment of that charter of infallibility which Christ promised to the 
pastors of his church in general. (P. 13, Confut.) But neither 
can error deform the generality of the pastors — for that would 
falsify the promise of Christ; nor can sin defile the whole 
church — for that would render it absolutely unlike its description 
in the gospel. (Matt. iii. 12, xiii. 47, 48, 49.) It will always 
have wheat together with the chaff, and good fah with the bad, 
till the destined separation at the end of time. Besides, though 
Christ has privileged the pastors of his church in general with a 
special exemption from error, he has no where promised them 
the like special exemption from sin." 

" To every objection drawn from sacred writ, this one an- 
swer may suffice ; — that all such expositions of scripture are 
contrary to the expositions of the catholic church, and there- 
fore inadmissible. For the authority of the church must either 
be allowed as undeniable in things of this nature, or (it has been 
proved) — we forfeit our title to the scripture itself. This ought 
abundantly to satisfy those who admit scripture exclusively, as 
the rule of faith. But if any thing be still wanting completely 
to vindicate the church's claim of infallibility, let our readers 
but recite the profession of faith — in general use among christians 
and commonly called the apostle's creed. For whether this 
creed was framed by the apostles themselves or not, it is allowed 
by protestants — to contain a summary abridgment of their doc- 
trine. Protestants also grant, that the creed always was, is, 
and will be true ; and that therefore there always was from the 
time of the apostles, is now, and always will be, a holy catholic 
church, and a communion of saints. (See Pearson's Exposi- 
tion of the Creed on the ninth article.) Now a church cannot 
be holy and a communion of saints, if it teach impious errors, 
superstitions and idolatry : no ; it cannot be holy and a com- 
munion of saints, if it require all persons in its communion to 
believe erroneous doctrines, in lieu of the doctrine of our Sa- 
viour Christ. Therefore the holy catholic church can never err 



MAC 267 

against faith. Consequently, its privilege of infallibility is fairly 
deducible from the creed." Ibid. 

" This reasoning is so plain and obvious ; so adequate to the 
capacity of the most illiterate, that we have great cause to thank 
Providence, for favoring the church with this article in our daily 
profession of faith. The caviller may here raise mists by forced 
constructions ; but forced constructions have nothing to do in 
the exposition of a creed — which was designed by its framers to 
be the instruction of every person of common sense. The obvi- 
ous meaning of this article must be its true meaning ; and that 
obvious meaning will always prove the catholic church — to sub- 
sist, — to be infallible in faith, and to be the authoritative inter- 
preter of the rule of faith and morals. And as no other church 
or body of men can justly claim a like degree of infallibility, the 
catholic church alone is this interpreter, and the lawful judge of 
controversies concerning religion. Let each one then diligently 
enquire (and this enquiry is by no means difficult, as will clearly 
appear from the perusal of what we have already said) — what it 
is that constitutes the whole rule of faith and conduct, and — 
who has the best title to be the interpreter of that rule ; and then 
humbly submit to be instructed and directed in christian faith 
and morality, by the interpretation thus obtained." Ibid. 
Whoever does this will act most rationally, and soon arrive at 
the light of truth. 



M 

Macedonians — followers of Macedonius who in the fourth 
age denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost. This man in 332 
was placed in the see of Constantinople by the Arian faction, 
whose errors he had espoused ; and his intrusion was attended 
with tumult and much bloodshed. The violences which he com- 
mitted, compelled the emperor Constantius — though himself an 
Arian, to remove him ; and Macedonius was, in consequence* 
deposed by a council of that sect held at Constantinople in the 
year 359. Incensed alike at his fellow sectarists and the catholics, 
he now maintained against the former — the divinity of the Son 
of God, and against the latter he asserted — that the Holy Ghost 
was not a Divine Person, but merely a creature more perfect 
than the rest. The objections from Holy Scripture which the 
Arians brought forward against the divinity of the Son, were the 
greatest part of them employed by Macedonius against the divi- 
nity of the Third Person : his error was the dictate of re- 
venge, and the suggestion of a proud and contumacious spirit. 

l!2 



268 MAC 

However, he prevailed with certain Arian bishops who had been 
deposed like himself, to make common cause ; and they found 
means to propagate their heterodox opinions — in Thrace, in the 
province of the Hellespont, and in Bithynia. They imposed upon 
the people by an affected gravity in their exterior, and the auste- 
rity of their manners — a usual artifice with false teachers, or in 
other words, of wolves in sheep's cloathing. The Macedonians 
were tolerated by Julian the apostate, and by his catholic succes- 
sor Jovian: but the Arian emperor Valens persecuted both 
them and the catholics, with whom the Macedonians one while 
appeared disposed to enter into terms of communion. In 381 
they were invited to the general synod at Constantinople, con- 
vened by Theodosius — with a view to the restoration of peace to 
the distracted church : on this occasion they refused to sign the 
Nicene symbol ; and were condemned as heretics. From that 
period we find no farther mention of them in ecclesiastic 
history. 

The errors of the Macedonians in reference to the Third Per- 
son of the most blessed Trinity, differ in this from those of the 
Socinians : the latter, with the sectarists of Photinus, hold that the 
Holy Ghost is not a Person, but merely a denominative term 
signifying the operations of the Divinity within our soul : the 
Macedonians, on the contrary, held the Holy Ghost to be a per- 
son, — a real subsisting being, — a created spirit—resembling the 
angels, but of a nature far superior to their's, although greatly 
inferior to the Godhead. We will endeavour, with the help of 
God, to demonstrate against these ancient as well as our more 
modern Anti-trinitarians — the divinity of this Holy Spirit. 

" Christ our Lord, before his ascension into heaven, com- 
missioned his apostles to go and preach to all nations the ado- 
rable mystery of the Trinity, and to baptize those who should 
believe in him — in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost. (Matt, xxviii. 19.) These words alone 
should be sufficient to confound — the Arians, the Socinians, 
and all other — ancient or modern — enemies of this fundamental 
article of the christian faith. Reason, indeed, cannot compre- 
hend this sublime mystery, as Christ himself sufficiently de- 
'clares, (Matt. xi. 27 ; xvi. 17 ;) and to affirm it to be demon- 
strable by the aid of reason alone, as Abelard and some mo- 
derns have pretended, is not only an error, but evidently ab- 
surd. Almighty God, in condescension to human weakness, 
was pleased to prepare the world gradually to receive this and 
his other most profound mysteries. The incarnation of the Son 
of God cannot be understood without faith in the most Blessed 
Trinity; and Christ himself has often expressly inculcated it in 
the New Testament, in which we read at every turn— of three 
distinct subsisting persons in the Godhead ; and St John in- 
forms us that — there are three in heaven that give testimony. 



MAC 269 

(1 John, v. 7.) This must mean — not a moral union, but a 
strict unity of the Divine nature in them, as other texts plainly 
prove. By the above is implied a real distinction of the per- 
sons : for one who should bear testimony by distinct ! properties 
alone, could not constitute three witnesses, as St John says there 
are, in the Godhead. The Socinians grant the Son to be a 
witness distinct from the Father, and even pretend him to be 
—so far distinct, as not to be of the same Divine nature with 
him, but a mere man. It is then an inconsistency in them to 
term the Holy Ghost a mere property of the Father, not dis- 
tinct from him. For he is no less mentioned in this and in 
1 other places of the New Testament as a real subsisting 
person, than the Son ; for instance, in the form of baptism. 
We cannot be baptised in the name of a simple quality. The 
Holy Ghost teaches, (John xiv. 15) — gives evidence, (John xv. 
26) — reveals hidden things, (1 Tim. iv. 1) — searches the secret 
things of God, (1 Cor. xi. 10) — operates, and divides the gifts of 
God as he pleases, ( 1 Cor. xiii. 1 1 ) — proceeds from the Father , 
(John xiv. 16, xv. 26, 27) appears in a visible form, (Matt. 
iii. 17 ; Acts ii. 3.) Now actions like the above cannot with any 
propriety be ascribed to mere properties, but to persons alone. 
Moreover, the Holy Ghost is called Jehovah, or the Great 
God. (Isa. vi. 9. Acts xxviii. 25. Acts v. 3. Matt. xii. 32.) 
The incommunicable essential attributes of God belong to Him 
— as immensity, (Wisdom i. 7. Ps. cxxxviii. 7. 1 Cor. iii. 16 
and 11. 2 Cor. xiii. 13) — Omniscience, (John xvi. 13. 1 Cor. 
ii. 10) — Omnipotence, (Ps. xxxii. 6. Luke i. 35) — Creation, 
(Gen. i. 2. Ps. xxxii. 6) — -Conservatio?i of creatures, (Ps. ciii. 
30)— Miracles, (Matt. xii. 28. 1 Cor. xii. 4)~ The Conception 
of Christ, (Luke i. 35) — His Unction and Mission, (Isa. lxi. 1) 
The Forgiveness of sins, (1 Cor. vii. 11) — The Government of the 
Church, (Acts xiii. 2. xv. 28) — The conferring of Gifts, (1 Cor. 
xii. 7) — Sanctificaiion of Soids, (Ephes. i. 17. 2 Thess. xi. 13. 
1 Pet. i; 2) — The diffusion of Charity, (Rom. v. 5) — The resur- 
rection of the dead, (Rom. viii. 2, &c.) What then is there 
wan dug to this most Holy Spirit — to constitute his Divinity ? 
Truly nothing ; unless it be the consent of ancient and modern 
Anti-trinitarians. Messrs Winston, Clarke, and the host of 
Socinian writers find a difficulty in conceiving — that which, in 
fact, is incomprehensible to the highest angels; and on this 
senseless plea, they impiously deny and reject the sacred mysteries 
of revealed religion, which those sublime spirits, with their coun- 
tenances reverently veiled, adore. They are indeed revealed truths; 
but still, so revealed, as to remain obscure and impenetrable to all 
created understanding. God would be no longer infinite, if his 
Divine nature could be fathomed or described by any limited 
being, however perfect ; much less by us mortals in our present 
imperfect state of trial, during which nothing can be more reason- 



270 MAH 

able or becoming, than the exercise of faith, and a sacrifice of our 
reason itself — captivated in submission to the word of God ; 
nothing more glorious to the Deity than our silent adoration 
of his incomprehensible nature and perfections." (See the learn- 
ed author of the Moveable Feasts, p. 584?, &c.) 

Mahomet or Mohammed — originally a merchant in Arabia, 
began to publish his pretended revelations in the thirty-eighth 
year of his age, and the six hundredth and eighth of Jesus 
Christ. Some time after this, with the help of a Jew and a 
Nestorian monk, he compiled his Alcoran or Cor an. It is an 
undigested heap of ridiculous absurdities. In proof of which 
it will abundantly suffice to instance his marvellous Cock ; whose 
size was so prodigious, that his feet standing on the first heaven, 
his head reached up to the second, at the distance of five hun- 
dred years journey — with other such arrant nonsense, too silly 
even to amuse our readers. 

Mahomet engaged his wife and three of the principal inhabi- 
tants of Mecca, — Abubeker, Othman and Omar, — to embrace 
his extravagant system of religion, and called it islam, a term 
which, according to Dr Pocock, signifies obedience to God and 
his prophet. Hence his followers are distinguished to this day 
by the name of Moslem or Mussulmans. Mahomet however, 
met with opposition, and was obliged to consult his safety by 
flight. He retired to Yethreb ; where he had already many fol- 
lowers. This place, from the circumstance of the impostor's 
flight, took the name of Medina fLnabi, or the prophet's town. 
From this date — the 16th of July, 622, the Hejira of the Arabs, 
that is, the epocha from which the Mahometans compute their 
years, commenced. In 628, Mahomet was complimented with 
the title of Prophet, and declared chief, as well in civil as in reli- 
gious matters. Soon after, he forced his old enemies the 
Coreishites to embrace his sect, together with the whole city of 
Mecca ; and before his death, which happened at Medina in the 
eleventh year of the Hejira, the twenty-third of Heraclius, and 
the six hundredth and thirty-second of Jesus Christ, he had sub- 
jugated a great part of Arabia. Abubeker, whose daughter he 
had married, held the sovereignty after him, with the title of 
Caliph or vicar of the prophet. He employed his forces in the 
conquest of Syria 5 for Mahomet had commanded his followers 
to oblige all nations — to adopt his religion or — to pay tribute, — 
by force of arms, (Alcoran, c. ix. § 29. c. viii. § 40.) After 
many victories obtained over the armies _ of Heraclius, Abubeker 
by his generals reduced Damascus in 634, on the very day of 
his death, which happened at Medina. Omar, one of whose 
daughters had been married likewise to Mahomet, succeeded 
Abubeker. This prince took Jerusalem in 637, Antioch in 638, 
and Alexandria in 640, by his general Amrou. The reduction 



M A H 271 

of this city was followed by the conquest of all Egypt. A little 
while after the Caliph seized on Tripoli and almost all Barbary. 
In 641 one of his armies reduced Ispahan capital of Persia; and 
in the course of Othman's reign, who succeeded Omar in 643, all 
Persia submitted to the Saracen yoke. Thus did the Saracens 
in less than thirty years found an empire equal in extent to that 
of ancient Rome ; God employing this savage people as a 
scourge wherewith to punish the sins of many nations. It was 
not long however, before this vast empire was dismembered, and 
divided into a multitude of independent kingdoms. Mahomet- 
ism at this day is a superstition immensely extended — over Asia, 
Africa and a considerable part of Europe. See Mr Butler's 
Lives of the Saints, vol. 12. p. 414, 15. 

The leading principles of Mahometanism are as follow — 
1. That God is but one. 2. That Mahomet is his prophet. 
3. That angels are the ministers of God, and execute his com- 
mands ; of whom the angel Gabriel is chief. 4. The Mahome- 
tans hold fate and absolute predestination. 5. They believe a 
heaven and a hell — with such rewards and punishments as Ma- 
homet knew would make the deepest impression — upon those 
with whom he had to deal. Paradise, he said, abounded with 
pleasures and delights best suited to the palate of his Arabians : 
women ever young and beautiful ; pleasant rivers and refreshing 
streams, cooling drinks, shaded gardens, delicious fruits — with 
an eternal enjoyment of all sensual satisfactions. And with the 
same kind of subtlety he formed their notions regarding hell. 6. 
The Mahometans practise circumcision, like the Jews. 7. Their 
religion is to be propagated by the instrumentality of the sword ; 
for which reason their Imans or priests, as often as they preach, 
hold in their hand a drawn sword. 8. That the Mussulmans, 
in killing unbelievers, merit heaven. 9. Mahomet forbids wine, 
games of chance, &c. 10. He admits both the Old and New Tes- 
tament, and quotes many passages from each, to justify his 
pretended apostleship. 11. His followers are allowed, not only 
a plurality ofwivesy but to keep as many women- slaves for con- 
cubines, as they are able to maintain ; and the children of the 
latter are as legitimate as those of the former. Mahomet for- 
bade indeed, adultery ; but, by a special privilege granted 
him, he said, by Almighty God — in his nightly jaunt to hea- 
ven, he took to himself the wife of his domestic Zayd. 12. He 
teaches the immortality of the soul, but holds notwithstanding, 
that the punishments of the wicked are not eternal, and that the 
very demons themseves shall eventually be converted by the power 
of the Coran. 

These, with innumerable other silly, false and ridiculously 
extravagant tenets and traditions, make up the bulk of Maho- 
metan doctrines and practice : — a system of religion invented by 
an illiterate barbarian, who could neither write nor read,- — 



272 MAN 

aided in Iris work of darkness by a renegado christian, and an 
apostate Jew ; and using as the means of its propagation the 
violence of persecution and the all-powerful eloquence of the 
sword. Seriously to undertake the refutation of a religion so 
licentious and impure, would be offering an affront to chribuan- 
ity, and an insult to common understanding. 

Manichees— a numerous sect of heretics who derived their 
name from Manes or Manicheus. Scythian us — the first forger 
of the Manichean imposture, was a very rich merchant, well 
skilled in medicine, astronomy and the mathematics ; was a chris- 
tian before his fall ; travelled into Egypt, and afterwards into 
Palestine ; and, at his death left his manuscripts to Manes : for 
he was his contemporary though senior, as appears from a letter 
which Manes wrote to him. A fragment of this letter was pre- 
served by Photius, and published by Fabricius (Bib, Graec. T. 
5, p. 283) : though some have made Scythianus much older. See 
St Cyril of Jerusalem, St Epiphanius, and Photius. Manes 
himself, according to St Ephrem, was born in Chaldea (hyp 
in the year 240, as we are assured also by the chronicle of Ecies- 
sa, published by Jos. Assemani (Bibl. Orient. T. 1. p. 393.) 
His name was Corbicius or Cubricus ; but he afterwards took 
that of Manes or Manicheus, probably the same with Manaem 
or ManaJiem, the Paraclete or Comforter. He was a christian, 
and had been ordained priest, as the learned Jacobite Abul- 
pharagius, and the judicious D'Herbelot testify. For obsti- 
nately maintaining heterodox opinions he was excommuni- 
cated, and afterwards repaired to the court of the infidel 
king Sapor, son of Artaxerxes the founder of the second 
Persian monarchy. He lived in favor with this prince, 
and accompanied him in his wars, perhaps in quality of his 
physician, says Beausobre. He now renewed and perfected the 
system which he had formerly learned of Scythianus, blending 
in one religion many notions of heathenish philosophers, the 
Persian magians and the gospel. Pretending that ail nations 
had had their respective prophets, he preferred those of the an- 
cient Persians and the other Gentiles (meaning their philoso- 
phers) to those of the Hebrews, whom he rejected ; and he 
adopted the Magian notion of two First Principles, the one 
good and the other bad, for the ground or basis of his new re- 
ligion. The Magians originally liad established two co-eternal 
principles ; the one good or light, the other evil, and the au- 
thor of all evil. It is certain, however, that the Persians never 
adored this evil principle, nor called it Gcd j though some 
Greek writers in their account of the Persian system, gave it 
that name. Some other idolaters had their avenging or malici- 
ous God, whom they fancied they appeased by sacrifices and 
supplications. From the acts of the Persian martyrs, and other 



MAN ,273 

monuments, it notwithstanding appears, that the Magians in 
general worshipped all the four elements, as inferior deities. 
Zoroaster, the famed reformer of the ancient Persian religion, 
taught the resurrection of the dead, a heaven and a hell, with 
several other important and religious truths. But this philoso- 
pher was puzzled to account — how evil and its first principle did 
not come from God, since according to him, God formed both 
the good and the evil principle, the subaltern causes of all 
things — though not coeval ; and Pocock observes — that upon 
this article the Magians were always much divided among them- 
selves. There were among them above seventy sects, differing 
chiefly concerning the properties of this evil principle. Among 
these, some after Zoroaster's time adhered to the old Magian 
tenets, and were called Magusians, i. e. followers of the Magians. 
Manes approved this popular sect, the capital point of whose 
doctrine was, that the two principles of light and darkness are 
eternal and coeval, both necessarily existing and producing ne- 
cessarily — all other things that are produced, good and bad. 
This was the origin of Manicheism. (See Scharistani, publish- 
ed by Hyde.) 

Sapor and the reigning Zoroastrian Magians were much 
offended at the innovation of Manes, who pretended he had 
learned his new doctrine in an estacy, received his apostleship 
immediately from heaven, and was inspired by the Paraclete, 
whom Christ had promised from above. The king resolved to 
put him to death ; which he prevented only by a timely flight. 
During his retreat, he composed his gospel (often quoted by the 
fathers) in a cave ; as Zoroaster had compiled his Zend in soli- 
tude. Sapor I. died in 272 ; and his son Hormisdas secretly 
favored the pretended prophet. Manes, therefore, taking with 
him the book of his gospel, which he had adorned with excel- 
lent paintings, and in which he had written his own revela- 
tions, returned into Persia. The new king his protector 
did not reign quite two years, and his son Varanes first favored, 
but afterwards persecuted Manes, who was put to death, pro- 
bably by him, though some think, by his adoptive son and suc- 
cessor Varanes II. This took place in the year 277. 

Manes had twelve apostles. The three most noted ones were 
— Thomas, Abdas and Hermas. Another called Leucius 
wrote false acts of the apostles of Christ, and a book on the 
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. The Mauichees became a very 
numerous sect, and spread themselves in Persia, Mesopotamia, 
Syria, Egypt, Greece, Africa and Spain ; and in the seventh 
century, in Armenia : afterwards in Bulgaria, Lombardy and 
Languedoc ; but were every where the execration equally of 
Pagans, Jews, Mahometans and Christians. The whole doc- 
trine of Manes centered chiefly upon the distinction of the two 
principles of light and darkness, winch had been first introdu- 

m m 



274 MAN 

ced among christians by the heresiarch Basilides. He had tra- 
velled into Persia, and dogmatized at Alexandria in the begin- 
ning of the second age. He is accused by the fathers, of prac- 
tising the black art; and it is certain, that he taught many 
superstitious notions and ceremonies with reference to his Eons 
or angels. See the article Basilides. 

Marcion his contemporary propagated the doctrine of two 
principles, in Pontus and at Rome; rejected the Old Testament, 
and denied the resurrection of the body. Bardesanes, previous- 
ly a christian philosopher of Edessa, admitted likewise a good 
and an evil principle ; denied the resurrection, and fell in with 
Apelles, Marcion, and the Docetae, (see their respective articles) 
who contested the reality of Christ's incarnation and passion. 
These sectarists were the precursors of Manes, who ingrafted his 
own inventions upon their false principles. He curtailed and in- 
terpolated the New Testament, and with Marcion absolutely re- 
jected the Old Testament as the work of evil powers ; he also de- 
nied the inspiration, or at least the superior authority, of the 
Hebrew prophets ; to whom he opposed ancient Chaldean Gen- 
tile philosphers ; and he produced apocryphal books in support 
of his extravagant theorisms. He condemned the use of mar- 
riage as in itself sinful. The Manichees also reprobated war, 
but allowed necessary self-defence. Their elect were forbidden 
to build houses, to traffic, or to possess estates ; and they boasted 
of great continency : but St Augustine who before his conver- 
sion was himself a Manichee, calls their chastity hypocrisy, and 
accuses them of abominable unnatural lusts, as do also the great 
St Leo and other fathers. Nor is it much to be wondered at, 
that, falling into habits of such crimes, they attempted to vindi- 
cate them by principle, though the general precepts of their sect 
condemned them. Of this we have seen an instance in our times 
in three eminent preachers of a new sect, notoriously convicted 
of justifying to their accomplices such excesses by principle, al- 
though by no means the result of any avowed doctrine of the 
sect. The Manichees held it lawful to dissemble or deny their 
religion, in order to avoid persecution; and from them the 
Priscillianists borrowed that pernicious maxim : Jura, perjura, 
secretum prodere noli, 

St Augustine reproaches the Manichees also with idolatry — 
in the worship of the sun, moon and heavenly powers ; for they 
ascribed to the intelligences which they supposed to preside over 
the heavenly bodies, certain perfections which belong exclusively 
to the Divine Being. (For a more circumstantial detail of the 
errors of this sect see the learned notes of Mr Butler, Lives of 
the Primitive Fathers, &c. vol. 8, p. 426, &c. ibid. p. 69, et seq.) 
Some Manichees maintained that trees and plants, as well as 
animals, had their feelings; and that they were capable of plea- 
sure and of pain : so that, in their ideas, the plucking of any fruit. 



MAN 275 

reaping corn, lopping a branch off a tree, could not be consider- 
ed in any better light than as so many palliated murders ; and, 
when bread was presented to them to eat, they withdrew a while ; 
uttered the most dreadful imprecations against those that offered 
it, and then in a lamentable tone of voice addressed the bread to 
the following effect : — " It was not I that reaped you or sent you 
to the mill ; nor had I any hand in kneading or in baking you ; 
consequently, I am innocent of all the injuries which you have 
had to suffer. I heartily wish that those who have been the oc- 
casion of them may experience the like themselves." After this 
pious ejaculation, the religious Manichee without further scruple 
greedily devoured the poor loaf, and consoled himself with the 
cheering hope, that the person who had thus appeased his hunger 
would be severely punished for his charity. So strange a com- 
pound of sensuality, superstition and the basest ingratitude, is hard 
to conceive — to those that are not well acquainted with the mania 
of fanaticism. Others among the elect imagined, that in eating, 
they emancipated those small particles of the Divinity, attached 
in their fond notions to the digestible matter ; and that these 
took their flight from their stomach to the heavenly mansions, 
and thus were reunited to their pure origin. With these men 
excessive gluttony was an act of religion, and a sublime work of 
piety, (See St Augustine de Moribus Manichaeorum, de Hasres. 
op. imperfect. 1. 6, c- 6, and St Epiphanius. Haeres. 6.) 

Under pretence of apologizing for the fall of so great a genius 
as St Augustine into this monstrous heresy, the celebrated, 
though not less impious philosopher Bayle, instead of presenting 
us with a critical enquiry into the history of Manicheism — as the 
nature of his work required, gives only a crude and servile ab- 
stract of the general history of Manes from the uncertain acts of 
Archelaus, and takes every occasion, under the various articles 
of ancient and modern Manichees, Paulicians, &c. to adorn, 
improve and enforce, with all the subtilty of which he was mas- 
ter, the arguments of those heretics — against the mysteries of our 
faith concerning the origin of evil, &c This he doubtless did 
with the same view of establishing his uuiversal scepticism, and 
of shaking the foundation of all religion, — with which he unjustly 
insults the memory of David, and of so many other prophets and 
holy men, and attacks with a flow of false reasoning the mysteries 
of the Trinity, incarnation, &c. Nor is he less industrious 
under the article of this heresy, than under so many other heads, 
to collect a dunghill of filth and obscenities, in order to poison the 
morals of men, as well as their faith. The conference termed the 
acts of Archelaus, was not written by Archelaus, as many mistake : 
for Photius proves (Cod. 85) from Heraclian bishop of Chalce- 
don, who wrote twenty books against the Manichees, that He- 

femonius was not the Greek translator — as St Jerom imagined — 
ut the author of this history. Joseph Assemani has further 

Mm2 



276 MAN 

proved this point, (Bibl. Orient. T. 1, p. 555) and observes, 
thatHegemonius lived some time after Archelaus, and that he pro- 
bably retrenched many things which had been spoken at the con- 
ference, and added others. This circumstance renders the cre- 
dit of the acts under the name of Archelaus precarious and un- 
certain, as in some points they seem absolutely indefensible. 
Hence many of Bayle's remarks and arguments deduced from 
their supposed authenticity, are of no weight. The authority 
of the Greek fathers respecting Manes is also too much slighted 
by Beausobre : nor will this author easily persuade us, that the 
inquisitive St Augustine, who lived almost nine years a hearer 
of the Manichees, never understood their errors, and usually 
charges them with consequences of his own. The curious en- 
quiries of this critic would have done him more honor, had his 
criticism been more modest and reserved ; — had the fathers been 
treated by him with more decency, and if his warmth had not 
betrayed him into misrepresentations and slanders where he 
might and ought to have been better informed, especially 1. 9, 
c. 4, 5, 9, T. 2, He wilfully mistakes the apostolical tradition 
appertaining to faith. (P. 2, T. 1.) This regards only reveal- 
ed truths, &c. But as protestants seem ambitious of the honor 
of having the sectaries of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 
many of whom were Manichees, for their predecessors, it was 
natural enough for Beausobre as such — to take part with the latter 
against the catholic church. They rejected the sacraments, — 
the veneration of the saints, — of the cross, — of images, &c. as 
cordially as protestants do. And are they not choice witnesses 
of the truth, tracing back their origin to an antiquity so remote 
as the third century, nay still farther — to the days of the apostles 
themselves, — by only adding to the train the ancient Gnostics ? 
True ; but the apostles condemned the Gnostics. Yes ; and in 
their persons they proscribed by anticipation the Manichees 
— with all their multifarious offspring (protestants not excepted) 
— to the end of time. Are protestants then in earnest when they 
affect to derive their succession from the apostles through the 
medium of such glorious ancestry in doctrine ? Are they willing 
to subscribe to the leading principles of these impious and ridi- 
culous sects ? If not, let them cease to challenge them for their 
religious progenitors. 

Bayle pretends with the Manichees, that the origin of evil is 
inexplicable by the principles of Christianity ; and lays a mighty 
stress on this hypothesis, — that God in the creation of the uni- 
verse could not have in view his own glory, and could be influ- 
enced purely by his goodness alone. Consequently, he must 
refer all to the well-being of his creatures, and must necessarily 
permit no evil to exist. But, unfortunately, the hypothesis on 
which the arguments of this sophistical writer wholly centre, is 
destitute of proof: it can never be demonstrated that the Divi- 
nity could have no other motive in creating the universe, but 



MAR 277 

the welfare of his creatures. There is nothing so impenetrable 
to human reason as the designs of the Divine Being : — unsearch- 
able are his ways; and ivho hath ever been his counsellor ? These 
designs of Divine Providence proceed from his free and absolute 
will : he does what he pleases, and forms such resolutions as he 
thinks fit, and with views most agreeable to his pleasure. 
These he hath not deemed expedient fully to reveal to man : 
and who shall have the presumption positively to define them ? 
What penetration, for instance, could ever have discovered the 
intentions of the Almighty in the incarnation of the Son of God ; 
had he not himself been pleased to communicate them to his 
creatures ? But if the Supreme Being might have other designs 
in the creation of the world, besides the happiness of his crea- 
tures, — all Mr Bayle's objections instantly fall to the ground; 
and it is not inconsistent either with the wisdom or with the 
goodness of Almighty God, to have permitted evil. Let this 
suffice, as being a full and complete answer to the cavils of such 
infidel writers and irreligious sceptics. 

Marcellians. See the article Photinians. 

Marcionites — one of the most ancient and most pernicious 
sects that attempted to subvert the unity of faith — so early as 
the second century. Marcion its author was a native of Pontus. 
After having embraced a state of continency, he violated his en- 
gagement to Almighty God ; for which infidelity he was ex- 
communicated by his diocesan bishop, said to have been his own 
father. Coming to Rome with the hopes of being there re-ad- 
mitted to the communion of the church, he was required first to 
comply with the injunctions of his lawful superior. Upon which 
he commenced heresiarch, as Tertullian and Epiphanius inform 
us. Pie professed himself a Stoic philosopher, and joining with 
Cerdo who came out of Syria to Rome in the time of pope 
Hyginus, he maintained that there existed two Gods or First 
Principles ; the one — the author of all good ; the other, — of all 
evil, and also of the Jewish law, and the Old Testament which he 
pretended to be contrary to the New. He condemned marriage ; 
refused baptism to all that did not profess virginity, although 
himself had notoriously prevaricated ; and authorized the repeti- 
tion of baptism, in order, he gave out, to purify the faithful more 
and more. He likewise held, that the body, which, according 
to him, was the production of the evil principle, would not rise 
again ; that Jesus Christ had assumed human flesh in appearance 
only, and that his birth, his sufferings, his death and resurrec- 
tion were merely apparent. According to St Ireneus, he taught 
moreover, that Jesus Christ in his descent into hell, had delivered 
thence the soul of Cain, those of the Sodomites, and of all sin- 
ners in general, because they had presented themselves before 



278 MAR 

him, and had not obeyed while upon earth — the laws of the Crea- 
tor whom he supposed to be the evil Principle ; whereas, he had 
left there the souls of Abel, of Noe, of Abraham and the ancient 
just, because they had done precisely the reverse. 

Many of the Marcionites, to testify their sovereign contempt 
of the flesh, offered themselves to martyrdom, and courted death : 
notwithstanding which, only three are known actually to have 
suffered death, in company with some christian martyrs. They 
fasted on the Saturday out of hatred to the Creator, who had 
commanded the Jews to observe it as a solemn feast. Many 
likewise, if Tertullian may be credited, practised judicial astrolo- 
gy ; some had recourse to magic, and implored the aid of the 
devil to arrest the progress of Theodoret, whose successful zeal 
effected the conversion of vast numbers of the Marcionites 
throughout his diocese. 

The only work ascribed to Marcion was a treatise entitled 
Antitheses or Contradictions, In this work he set himself to 
prove — the opposition which he pretended to discover, between 
the ancient law and the gospel ; between the severity of the or- 
dinances of Moses, and the mildness of those of Jesus Christ ; 
and he asserted, that the greatest part of the former were cruel, 
unjust and absurd. Hence he concluded, that the Creator of 
the universe, who speaks in the ancient testament, cannot be the 
same God who sent down Jesus Christ ; and, consequently, he 
did not believe the books of the Old Testament to have been di- 
vinely inspired. Of the four gospels, he received only that of 
St Luke, with the exception however, of the two first chapters 
which regard the birth of Christ. He admitted only ten of St 
Paul's epistles, and here too, he exploded whatever did not ac- 
cord with his own ideas. 

Several fathers of the second and third ages have employed 
their pens against Marcion ; St Justin, St Ireneus, St Theo- 
philus of Antioch ; St Denis of Corinth, Tertullian, &c. Great 
part of these works are no longer extant. Those of Tertullian in 
five books — with his treatises de Came Christi, de Resurrectione 
Carnis ; and the dialogues de Recta in Deitm Fide — by a certain 
author named Adamantius who flourished after the council of 
Nice, though formerly by mistake ascribed to Origen, are the most 
complete of any that have survived the injuries of time. Tertul- 
lian in his first book against Marcion demonstrates, that an eter- 
nal and increated Principle must be sovereignly perfect, and, 
consequently, one ; that sovereign perfection is essential to a ne- 
cessary Being ; and that there is no more reason for admitting 
two First Principles, than ten thousand ; since one all-perfect 
Being is essentially all-powerful and self-sufficient for all things. 
He shows, that Marcion's supposed good Principle, is by no 
means so in fact. This God according to his system has very 
ill provided for the salvation of men ; is not the author of any 



M A R 279 

one thing visible ; has suffered those spirits to which he did give 
being, to groan beneath the yoke of the Evil Principle, and per- 
mitted him to do what harm he pleased — without the smallest 
opposition. He must be therefore, either weak or stupid, as 
even Bayle allows : epithets — least of all becoming the majesty 
of God. 

In the second book, Tertullian proves, that God as represent- 
ed in the Old Testament, is truly and sovereignly good ; that his 
goodness is demonstrated by his works, by his providence, by 
his laws, his pardoning of sinners and his mercies in regard of 
them ; and even by his paternal chastisements and by 
the wisdom of the Mosaic dispensation which Marcion thinks 
fit to censure with blasphemous temerity. Hence he was equally 
unwarranted to say, that the ancient scriptures could not be the 
work of a good God ; and that the latter cannot be identified 
with the Creator of the visible world. 

In the third book, Tertullian proceeds to shew, that our 
Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ constantly ascribed his mission to 
no other, than the great Creator of heaven and earth; that this 
was also perpetually announced by the prophets ; and that he 
took flesh, and suffered, and died — in reality, and not in ap- 
pearance only. The same he proves in his fourth book, shew- 
ing that Jesus Christ had punctually fulfilled — whatever the Crea- 
tor had foretold of him by his prophets ; and exposes in the most 
glaring light the bold temerity of Marcion in rejecting the Old 
Testament, by which Christ himself had proved both his 
mission and his doctrine ; — and erasing from the New whatever 
did not tally with his own eccentric notions. In the fifth book, 
he continues to demonstrate from the epistles of St Paul, that 
the Redeemer is truly the Son and great ambassador of God the 
Father — the only Creator of all things both visible and invisible. 
In his treatise De Came Christi, he had already proved the 
reality and the passibility of Jesus Christ ; and in that De Re~ 
surrectione Camis, he evinces the future resurrection of the 
dead to be an essential dogma of the christian faith. Hence he 
makes it evident, that bodies as well as spirits are the work of 
an infinitely good God, and not of an evil principle. But 
why hath this good God permitted man to sin ? This is the 
grand objection of the Marcionites. He suffered it, replies Ter- 
tullian, because he had created man a free agent : now it was 
fitting that man should exercise his liberty : in this very in- 
stance he bears a resemblance with his Maker, and is capable 
of merit, and of recompence. Adamantius, St Basil and later 
fathers have answered much to the same effect ; adding that 
God permitted the fall of Adam, because he had decreed to 
repair with advantage its mischievous consequences — by a future 
redemption through our Saviour Christ. Nor is the goodness of 
God to be impeached, if after all, by the obstinate abuse of free- 



280 MAR 

will, man wilfully perverts the gifts of the Divine bounty to his 
final reprobation. God is infinitely just as well as good ; and 
his goodness slighted — finally gives way to justice — without for- 
feiting its own existence, as a sister attribute of the Divinity. 

Marcion had several disciples, who themselves in their turn, 
commenced authors of new sects ; particularly Lucian and Apel- 
les. And why should they not have the privilege equally with 
their master — to forge fresh systems at their discretion ? Some 
admitted three Principles in lieu of two : one Good, a second 
Just, and a third Evil. (See the dialogues of Adamantius, sect. 
l,notec. p. 804.) This is the peculiar prerogative of error. 
The Marcionites were eventually confounded with the Manichees. 
(See Tillemont, T. 2, p. 266, &c.) 

Markesians. See Valentinus. 

Maronites — christians who inhabit, chiefly, Mount Libanus, 
and other mountains of Syria. They date their Christianity from 
the times of the apostles, and think they have invariably adher- 
ed to that profession ever since. The learned Maronite Faustus 
Nairon, professor of the Syriac tongue at Rome, attempted to 
demonstrate this opinion in a dissertation published in 1679, and 
in another work entitled Euoplia fidei Catholics, printed also at 
Rome in the year 1694. This people adhered to the council of 
Chalcedon, and were joined in communion with the Melchites 
or Loyalists, who maintained the "authority of that synod 
against the Eutychians. Their present name they probably 
have derived from a certain bishop named Maro, who seems 
to have resided at the monastery of St Maro in the neighbour- 
hood of Apamea, and who wrote a book entitled A Treatise of 
Faith to the Libanists, in which he combated the errors of the 
Nestorians and Eutychians. He continued to instruct and to 
govern them as their pastor, till his death, which happened in 
the year 707. Since that period, they had fallen into the 
heresy of the Monothelites, and some of them into Nestorian- 
ism; but were reclaimed from these errors in 1182, under the 
patriarch of Antioch Aimeric. Many, however, had embraced 
the Greek schism — till their final reunion with the catholic 
church in the pontificate of Gregory XIII. and Clement VIII. 
during the sixteenth century. They are now zealously attached 
to the church of Rome, and profess a strict obedience to the 
pope as their supreme pastor. Their seminary at Rome found- 
ed by Gregory XIII. under the direction of the society of Jesus, 
had before the suppression of that society produced several great 
men, who have exceedingly promoted true literature, especially 
the Oriental. We will instance only — Abraham Echellensis, — 
the three Assemani (Joseph, Stephen, and Evodius) whose 
curious researches are standing monuments of their erudition, 



MAR 281 

and entitle them to the gratitude of the learned, particularly 
the Oriental Library in 4 volumes folio, of one of the three last 
mentioned authors ; in which he has presented us with an im- 
mense collection of Syriac writers ; — and Lewis, known by his ju- 
dicious writings on the ceremonies of the church. The patriarch 
of the Maronites styled — of Antioch, resides in the monastery of 
Canobine at the foot of Mount Libanus ten miles distant from 
Tripolis : he is confirmed by the pope, and has under him five 
metropolitans, namely, those of Tyre, Damascus, Tripolis, 
Aleppo, and Nicosia in Cyprus. (See Le Quien Oriens Chris- 
tianus, T. 3, p. 46.) 

Though many of the ancient Maronite books have been cor- 
rupted by the Syrian Jacobites, nevertheless they have preserved 
several unadulterated with any erroneous doctrines. They use 
the same liturgies with the Jacobites, because they have retained 
their original purity. (See Le Brun, Explic. des Ceremon. de la 
Messe, T. 4, p. 625, et suiv.) Their profession of faith is given 
in the third tome of La Perpetuite de la Foi, 1. 8, c. 16. Their 
clergy are all allowed to marry before their ordination ; but can- 
not marry a second time under pain of degradation. Their re- 
ligious are poor, and have their dwelling tor the most part, in 
some sequestered retreat upon the mountains; they work at 
country labor, till the ground, and never eat fiesh meat. Their 
rule is that of the celebrated St Antony. The Maronite 
priests generally say mass all together, and not separately or in 
private, except on extraordinary emergencies ; the rest assist the 
celebrant and receive the communion at his hands, as is done 
with us on the days of ordination. Their liturgy is in Syriac ; al- 
though the epistle and gospel are read aloud in the vulgar Arabian. 
The people keep Lent, and on all fasting days take their meal 
only two or three hours before sun-set. See Dandini, translated 
into French by Mons. Simon. 

A late French traveller who visited the mountains of Syria, in- 
forms us, that the Maronites study only the scripture and their 
catechism; but that they are an honest race of men, innocent in 
their morals and scrupulously attached to the Roman church ; 
that they are laborious, and by their industry have fertilized the 
soil of the Syrian mountains, and have given them the appear- 
ance of a delightful garden. He adds, that the catholic religion 
has made great progress in Syria, at Damascus, and on the 
south-west side of the mountains, where heretofore sectarians 
and schismatics composed the bulk of the population. The 
missions in those quarters are entrusted to the Capucins, the Ob- 
servantins of the Convent of Jerusalem, and the barefooted Car- 
melites of Tripolis and of Mount Carmel. This traveller does 
justice to their laborious zeal, and their proportionate success. 
See Voyages de M. de Pages, tome 1, p. 352, &c. M. Volney 
who passed eight months among the Maronites in 1784, gives 

n n 



282 MAT 

the same favorable testimony respecting their religion and mo- 
rals. (Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, t. 2, p. 8, kc.J And he 
calls the attention of his reader to the striking influence which 
religion possesses on the manners, the condition and the happi- 
ness of a people, in taking a comparative view of the Maronites 
and the Turks with reference to these important subjects. 

We will conclude our notice of this people with observing, 
that as in spite of the errors into which at different epochs they 
had fallen, they nevertheless retained the same liturgies and the 
same forms of divine service, which they had used before the 
schism of the Jacobites in the fifth century, and still continue 
to use at this day, it is an undeniable proof of the religious 
creed then professed in the Oriental church. These books 
contain precisely the same doctrines and usages, which the 
church of Rome actually retains and recommends, and which 
our modern critics pretend to censure as novelties and innovar 
tions introduced into the Western church by the Roman pon- 
tiffs ! Such is the candor, good faith and veracity of their enemies, 

Masbotheans — the followers of Msabotheus, a disciple of 
Simon the Magician, and one of the seven heresiarchs who first 
attempted to corrupt the purity of the faith : this man denied 
Providence, and the resurrection of the dead. (Theod. Hceret* 
Fab. 1. 1, c. 1. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. L 4> c. 22.) 

Massilians, or Marsillians. (See Semi-Pelagians.) 

Materialists — All those were by the ancient fathers called 
Materialists, who maintained that — of nothing nothing could be 
made $ that creation in the strict sense of the word was impossi- 
ble ; and that God in the formation of the universe wrought up- 
on an eternally pre-existent matter. This system of Materialism 
Tertullian solidly refuted in his treatise against Hermogenes. 
He demonstrates, that if matter is an eternal and necessary be- 
ing, it cannot be subject to any imperfection, or liable to any 
change ; that God himself could not alter its state, or have any 
power over a being coeternal with himself. This argument 
Clarke has handled more in detail. Tertullian hence concluded, 
that matter had a beginning $ which could not be supposed 
without creation — in the proper meaning of the term. St Justin, 
in his Exhortation to the Gentiles (n. 23) : Origen, in his 
Commentary upon Genesis, and upon St John, (t. 1, n. 18) 
similarly prove, that if matter were eternal, God could not have 
possessed any influence or jurisdiction over it. 

Hermogenes, not to attach any responsibility to the Divine 
Being in consequence of evil existing in the world, ascribed it 
— with the generality of the ancient philosophers— to the im- 
perfection essential to matter. Tertullian replies, that in this 



MAT 283 

fcase God ought not to have created the world at all, if he could 
not remedy the defects of matter ; and thus the supposed apolo- 
gy would be futile: that, moreover, it was an absurdity to as- 
cribe to matter all the evil, and not equally the good, subsisting 
in the universe. He shews that Hermogenes contradicts him- 
self — in supposing matter sometimes a good, at other times an evil; 
— in making it infinite, and still subjecting it to the control of the 
Divinity. Matter, continues Tertullian, is contained within 
space ; consequently it is limited, and it is God alone that has 
prescribed its boundaries. 

Modern Materialists — are those who hold no other substance 
but matter ; who maintain that spiritual substances are mere 
chimeras; that in man the body is the sole principle of all his 
operations : — who deny the existence of a Supreme Being, or 
consider him as the soul of matter universally diffused through 
all bodies : hence, say they, proceed their motions and various 
alterations. As each of these mad systems presupposes the 
eternity and self-existence of matter, they are already refuted by 
the triumphant arguments of the holy fathers against the ancient 
Materialists. To philosophers we may leave the province of 
demonstrating matter to be essentially incapable of a spiritual 
operation, such for instance as is — thought : this is an operation 
simple and indivisible ; it cannot have for its subject or its prin- 
ciple a divisible substance like matter. Though we should even 
admit an indivisible atom of matter, no other essential quality 
could possibly be ascribed to it, but inertness or the incapacity 
of producing any active operation. Besides, Materialists will 
easily grant that matter is rendered capable of thought only by 
organisation: this requires the reunion and arrangement of 
different parts of matter ; which cannot take place without an 
efficient cause distinct from matter itself. 

Materialists, it is worthy of remark, produce no direct proof 
whatever of their system ; they only start objections against the 
hypothesis of spirituality. It is difficult, say they, to conceive 
the nature of a spiritual being, its operations, its confinement 
within a body to which it gives motion. But is it easier to 
comprehend matter to be eternal, necessary, increated, and yet 
finite and with attributes neither necessary nor eternal, but lia- 
ble to change ? Can we conceive a being purely passive, in- 
different alike to motion or repose, — to be notwithstanding, itself 
the very principle of motion ; — a being composed of parts,— 
divisible and still the subject of modifications indivisible ? These 
are not merely inconceivable mysteries ; they are palpable con- 
tradictions. Certainly, it is less absurd to admit incomprehen- 
sible mysteries, than gross inconsistencies ; nay, it is the ex- 
treme of folly to attempt to stifle the interior conviction which 
informs us — that we are something more than mere modifica- 
tions of crude matter. 

Nn2 



284, MEL 

Maximianists — a sect of Donatists. See that article. 

Melchisedecians — sectaries who professed the most extra- 
vagant veneration for Melchisedec. Of these, the most ancient 
were a branch of Theodotians in the third century, who main- 
tained that Melchisedec was not a mortal man, but the power 
of God -, and that he was superior even to Jesus Christ, and 
Mediator between God and the angels, whereas Jesus Christ, 
they said, was Mediator between God and man only. (See The- 
odotians.) Towards the close of the third age, this heresy was 
renewed in Egypt by a certain Hierax, who pretended that 
Melchisedec was the Holy Ghost. Some ancients, upon we 
know not what grounds, accuse Origen of this error ; no traces 
of it are discoverable in his writings which have come down to 
us. Another sect of Melchisedecians is spoken of by eccle- 
siastical authors more modern than the former. They seem to 
have been a branch of the Manichees, and, strictly speaking, 
neither Jews, nor christians, nor pagans. These were called 
Attingani, because they made a scruple of touching any person, 
for fear of contamination. When any thing was presented to 
them, they would not take it before it was laid upon the ground ; 
and they observed the same ceremony in presenting things to 
others. These enthusiasts had a similar outrageous veneration 
for Melchisedec with the former, and inhabited the borders of 
Phrygia. We may rank those too, on the list of Melchisede- 
cians, who have asserted that Melchisedec was no other than 
the Son of God who appeared to Abraham, according to them, 
under a human form. This opinion from time to time has had 
its votaries. All of them misguided, principally by certain figu- 
rative expressions of St Paul, comparing the Jewish priesthood 
with that of the new law according to the order of Melchisedec ; 
who w T as a king in Palestine, and also a priest of the most high 
God, and offered sacrifice in bread and wine. 

In all the above pretenders to scriptural doctrine, as we often 
have occasion to remark, we behold a striking instance of the 
fallacy of private interpretation, and of the enormous abuse of 
the word of God, to which those are liable, that refuse submis- 
sion to the authority of the catholic church. Prejudice itself 
must see the justice of this remark. 

Melchites — a word derived from the Syriac, and signifying 
Royalists or Imperialists. This nickname, the Eutychians, con- 
demned by the council of Chalcedon, thought fit to give to the 
orthodox who adhered to the decisions of the council, and 
and to the edict of the emperor Marcion enjoining their execu- 
tion. For the same reason they were also called Chalcedonians. 
The epithet of Melchite is common to all the christians in the 
East, except the Jacobites and Nestorians. It attaches not only 



MEN 285 

to the Greek catholics who live in communion with the church 
of Rome, and to the Syrian Maronites, subject in like manner to 
the Roman see ; but also to the Greek schismatics of the patri- 
archates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, who have not 
adopted the errors either of the Eutychians, or Nestorians. 
The Greek patriarchs of those three sees are subject, in many in- 
stances, to the patriarch of Constantinople ; conform to the rites 
of the latter church, and use only the liturgies of St Basil and 
St Chrysostom, in common with the church of Constantinople. 

Melecians — those who schismatically took part with Melecius 
bishop of Lycopolis. This man was deposed in a synod by his 
metropolitan St Peter of Alexandria, for having sacrificed to 
idols during the persecution of Dioclesian. He obstinately re- 
fused submission, and formed a schism which continued near 
one hundred and fifty years. As neither himself nor his adhe- 
rents were accused of any error against faith, the prelates assem- 
bled at Nice in the year 325 invited them to return to the com- 
munion of the church, and agreed to admit them without insist- 
ing upon a previous course of penitence. Many, together with 
Melecius himself, professed their submission to Alexander the 
then patriarch of Alexandria ; although, it would seem, their re- 
conciliation was not sincere, and Melecius is said quickly to have 
resumed his former refractory disposition, and to have died in his 
schism. When St Athanasius was placed in the patriarchal 
chair, the Melecians hitherto the declared enemies of Arius, en- 
tered into a league with the Arian faction to persecute and slan- 
der this most zealous defender of the Nicene faith. Ashamed 
however, of the excesses into which their groundless hatred had 
betrayed them, they afterwards desired a reunion ; and Arsenius 
their leader wrote to him upon the subject in terms of respect, 
and ever after remained firm in his attachment. Some of the 
party, notwithstanding, continued obstinate; as appears from 
the circumstance of their schism still subsisting in the days of 
Theodoret, who charges them with a variety of superstitious and 
ridiculous observances. 

Menandrians —were one of the most ancient sects among 
the Gnostics. Menander their author was a disciple of Simon 
the magician ; was a great proficient in the black art, and after 
the death of his master commenced independent sectarist. Si- 
mon had most blasphemously maintained himself to be the great 
energy of God, and the omnipotent. Menander contented himself 
with the title of Messiah. He pretended, that the majesty of the 
Supreme Being was unknown to the world — any farther than as 
the source of all existence, and the virtue by which all things 
have their being. A multitude of genii, according to Menander, 
had proceeded from him, and formed the universe together with 



e 2B6 M E S 

the human kind. These creating angels — through impotence or 
malice, confined the human soul in bodies so organised, as to sub- 
ject it to a continual alternative of good and evil ; all evil being 
the effect of the fragility of those organs, and terminating only 
with the greatest of evils, which was death. Touched with the 
miseries of wretched mortals, certain spiritual intelligences, of a 
nature more benign, had disseminated upon earth unfailing an- 
tidotes against these miseries. Menander was divinely commis- 
sioned to reveal these precious antidotes to men, and to teach 
them how to triumph over the creating angels. The mystery 
consisted in the art of rendering the organs of the human body 
unsusceptible of change. Menander, to effect this, ordered his 
disciples a kind of magic bath which they termed the true resur- 
rection, because it ensured to them constant health of body, and 
vigor unimpaired by age. 

There were Menandrians at Antioch when St Justin wrote, 
that firmly believed themselves immortal. (See Iraen. 1. 2, c. 2 J. 
Tert. de Prescript, c. 5. Euseb. 1. 3, c. 26. Justin. Apol. 2. 
Aug. de Haer. c. 2.) In fact, almost every age, strange as it 
may appear, under various denominations has had its Menandri- 
ans, who have pretended to an exemption from mortality — some- 
times by their system of religion — sometimes by the boasted 
mysteries of alchymy or the chimeras of the cabalistic art. At the 
commencement of the eighteenth century one of our countrymen 
asserted that — if men died, this was merely the effect of custom; 
that they might, if they pleased, live here below without the fear 
of ever dying, and be translated into heaven, as formerly were 
Enoch and Elias, without any previous dissolution. " Man," 
says M. Asgil, " was originally created in a state of immortality. 
God subjected him to the penalty of death — only in consequence 
of his sin : Jesus Christ appeared amongst us in order to repair 
the damage caused in the world by sin, and to procure for man- 
kind the immortality of the spirit, and that of the body also. 
If then christians are liable to death, it is to be ascribed to their 
want of faith ! I" Pity his own was not strong enough to have 
rescued himself at least, from the all-grasping fangs of this un- 
relenting tyrant. 

Mennonites — See Anabaptists. 

Messalians, or Euchites, that is, the Prayers (for the 
word Messal in Syriac and Euchites in Greek, have the same 
import) — were a fanatical sect in Mesopatamia, who owed their 
origin to their misinterpretation of scripture. The scripture 
teaches, that in order to be perfect, it is advisable for persons to 
sell what they possess, and give to the poor ; — to renounce all 
things, &c. A certain devotee named Sabas, ardently aspiring 
to evangelical perfection, and taking these and other similar pas- 



MES 287 

sages of the gospel in their strictest literal sense, with more, zeal 
than christian discretion, made himself an eunuch ; disposed of 
his possessions in favour of the poor ; and then refused to labor 
for a perishable subsistence. From other texts of scripture taken 
also in their literal acceptation, he concluded — that we were en- 
vironed with troops of evil spirits, and that all our temptations 
originated with them : he believed that at the birth of each indi- 
vidual — a demon seized him, and caused him to commit what- 
ever sinful actions he might afterwards through life be subject 
to. Holy scripture represents the devil as a roaring lion, 
famishing with hunger, who continually goes about seeking whom 
he may devour, Sabas imagined himself incessantly surrounded 
by legions of his wicked angels, and was observed in the midst 
of his devotions — in violent agitation — starting up and jumping 
as high as he was able, and — as he thought — over armies of 
these hellish fiends. He was often seen, as if in actual conflict, 
to move his arms like a person drawing the bow ; and he fancied 
he was discharging a flight of arrows at his spiritual enemies. 
His visionary dreams he took for revelations, and presently 
commenced prophet. The attention of the multitude was at- 
tracted ; they caught his spirit ; and a crowd of men and wo- 
men attended him ; — selling their possessions, — leading a life of 
idleness, and without the least regard to common decency, 
sleeping promiscuously in the streets. These maniacs, like 
their fanatic author, believed the atmosphere to be brim-ful of 
devils, and that they inhaled them together with the vital air. 
In consequence of this idea, they were unceasingly in the act of 
spitting, or employed in blowing their noses. Sometimes they 
fell into a kind of ecstasy, acted the prophet, and fondly thought 
they beheld the Trinity. " In such instances much is to be as- 
cribed to a heated imagination ; though it seems not to be doubt- 
ed," says Mr Alban Butler, in his Life of St Amphilochius, 
" but by the Divine permission they sometimes suffered extra- 
ordinary impulses and illusions from the devil ; in which it is 
easy to discover from the imperfect relations which we have of 
the Messalians, an affinity with the modern fanatics of various 
sects ; such, for instance, as those of the Cevennes among the 
Huguenots, the Convulsionarians among the Jansenists at Paris, 
and several of our English enthusiasts." 

The Messalians did not break off communion with the catho- 
lics. These they regarded as a poor ignorant and stupid race of 
men, who in their simplicity had recourse to the sacraments to 
strengthen them against the assaults of Satan ; whereas them- 
selves more wisely placed their confidence in uninterrupted 
prayer. Whence, as observed above, they have derived their 
name. Much of their time they spent in singing spiritual can- 
ticles, or in reciting almost without intermission the Our Father, 
&c. They had made some proselytes at Edessa, when Flavian 



t$8 .MET 

bishop of Antioch expelled them from that city : whence they 
retreated, first into Pamphylia, and being there condemned by 
a council, they passed into Armenia, and succeeded in introducing 
their errors into several monasteries in those parts. Letorius 
bishop of Melitene inhumanly caused these monasteries to be 
burnt 5 in which numbers of the poor deluded people perished. 
Those among them that survived, retired for protection to ano- 
ther Armenian prelate ; who had compassion on them, and treated 
them with mildness and truly christian charity. On these Mes- 
salians, see the author of Les Egaremens de 1' Esprit Humain. 
StEpiphanius speaks of another more ancient sect of Messalians, 
who admitted a plurality of gods, but adored only one whom 
they called the Omnipotent, or the Most High. Tillemont with 
much probability supposes them to have been the same with the 
Hypsistarians. (See the article.) These Messalians, says 
Epiphanius, have erected in divers places oratories illuminated 
with lamps and flambeaux, not unlike our churches ; wherein 
they assemble to pray and chaunt hymns in honor of the Divine 
Being. 

In the tenth age also, there appeared a new sect of Messa- 
lians, or, more properly, a species of Manichees : they admitted 
two Gods born of a pre-existing Divinity ; the younger reigned 
in heaven, the elder upon earth. Him they called Satan ; and 
they imagined that the two brother gods waged a mutual un- 
ceasing war ; but that at length they would be reconciled. (Le 
Clerc, Biblioth. univ. t. 15, p. 119.) Lastly, the twelfth centu- 
ry likewise had its Messalians, supposed to have been the pre- 
cursors of the Bogomilians. See their article. It is difficult, 
however, to trace with accuracy in what these various sects 
agreed, or what principles were peculiar to each apart. But 
most of them are proved to have been of abandoned morals — by 
contemporary historians of unimpeached veracity ; although 
Mosheim would willingly excuse them, because they generally 
exclaimed aloud against the supposed or real abuses, — the su- 
perstitions, and the vices of the clergy ; favorite topics of those 
that wish, at all events, to quarrel with the catholic church. Per- 
haps the reformation may have occasion for these madmen also, 
to complete its motley genealogy ! 

On the Messalians or Massalians, see St Epiph. (haer. 80) St 
Jerom. Proem, in dial. adv. Pelag. &c. also Jos. Assemani, Bibl. 
Orient, vol. 1, p. 128, vol. 4. 170, and Euthymii Zigabeni Pa- 
noplia tit. 26, et alibi, with Hermenopilus de sectis, p. 570. 

Metamorphosists, or Transformers — were a sect of the 
twelfth age, who pretended that the body of Jesus Christ, at 
the moment of his ascension, had been transformed into the 
Divinity. Some Lutheran Ubiquitarians have been charged 
with renewing this error. 



MET 289 

Metangismonites — of whom St Augustine makes mention 
Hcer. 57 — derive their name from the Greek terms Msr« and 
s Ayy*ov, importing — in a vessel : they said, that the Word was in 
his Father, just as one vessel is contained within another. This 
sect appears to have been of Arian extraction. 

Methodists— a name given 1st, by protestants to their adver- 
saries the French controversionalists ; of whom Mosheim in his 
ecclesiastical history says : — These Methodists may be distributed 
into two classes. Those of the first class pretended to dictate to 
protestants certain unreasonable normas, to which they were in- 
violably to adhere in religious disputation. Of this number was 
the ex-Jesuit Veron, curate of Charenton, who required of his 
adversaries, that they should prove every article of their creed by 
clear and formal texts of Holy Scripture ; and would not allow 
them the privilege of reasoning at all, or of tracing any conse- 
quence whatever, or deducing any argument from the apparent 
intimation of the text. He was followed by Berthold Nihusius 
a renegado from protestantism ; by the two Wallembourgs and 
others, who found it easier to retain what they possessed, than 
to evince the justice of their title. The burden of proof they 
abandoned to their adversaries, and reserved to themselves only 
the more easy task of eluding the force of the soundest logical 
conclusions. Cardinal Richelieu, and a crowd of catholic pole- 
mics, wished to set aside the complaints and the reproaches of the 
reformed, and to content themselves with proving the divine au- 
thority of the church — by reasons the most decisive and unequi- 
vocal. 

Those of the second class, continues Mosheim, to decide the 
contest with their adversaries in the most summary way, adopt- 
ed a sort of general arguments, which they called warrantable 
prejudices, (See Nicole's Prejuges Legitimes contre les Calvin- 
istes) any one of which — developed and dispkryed to advantage- 
was alone sufficient, in the opinion of some controvertists after 
him, to demonstrate the imposture or the nullity of the reform. 
Some of these Methodists have opposed to it their pretended 
right of prescription ; others the vices and want of mission in 
the reformers ; a third set have attempted only to prove, that 
this religious revolution was in fact a schism, and therefore of 
itself highly criminal. 

Bossuet, agreeably to the remark of this learned Lutheran 
author, undertook to demonstrate the falsehood of the religion 
established by Luther, by exposing the perpetual changeableness 
of opinion among its doctors, and the multitude of variations so 
discernible in its doctrines ; while he proved the authority and 
the divine origin of the Roman catholic persuasion, from the con- 
stancy with which its religious dogmas have been handed down to 
us unadulterated, through each revolving age. All these different 

o o 



29© MET 

methods of combating the reformation, in Mosheim's ideas, have 
embarrassed protestants, more than they have advanced the cause 
of catholicity. - It is true, he admits, many princes and some 
enlightened scholars, have suffered themselves to be seduced by 
these captious arguments, and have returned to the communion 
of that church, from which their fathers had seceded : but their 
example has not been copied by any single nation, nor even by 
one solitary canton. After enumerating the most illustrious 
proselytes, as well princes as learned individuals, he tells us, that 
the number is very inconsiderable — of those who, from truly con- 
scientious motives, have readopted the ancient faith. 

The lynx-eyed sagacity of Mr Mosheim, doubtless, must 
have been derived immediately from above, thus to penetrate 
the secrets of hearts 1 While our methodistic controversialists 
demonstrate, that the reformers in their schism were influenced 
by a spirit of libertinism and independence, and the ambition of 
becoming leaders of a sect, protestants cry out calumny, and 
enquire — by what right their adversaries pretend to sound the 
hearts and the intentions of their fellow men, and to ascribe to 
a principle of depravity in them, what might be the innocent 
result of misconception or a mere defect of judgment. But be- 
hold ! these very delicate and tender casuists are the first to vio- 
late their own, uncommonly charitable, maxim — in the case of all 
those who have had the courage and the virtue to renounce the 
schism and erroneous principles of their deluded ancestors. 
How heavily would Mr Mosheim have complained, had any 
one politely told him, that his only motive for choosing to live 
and die a Lutheran was — his occupying the most dignified situ- 
ation in a university, or enjoying the douceurs of a prime good 
living ? Nor is it a matter of surprise, that the vulgar sort 
among the Lutherans should continue obstinately stedfast in 
the errors of their early youth, notwithstanding the example of 
many princes and the most enlightened personages of their com- 
munion — -quitting their former prejudices, and eagerly em- 
bracing the catholic religion. The fact is : — they are ignorant; 
and are determined to remain so; — they are not in the habit of 
reading catholic books, and are moreover diverted from it by 
their ministers ; while the eventual conversion of those who have 
well examined both sides of the question, appears to us, we 
must own, a reasonable presumption in favour of catholicity, and 
a well-grounded argument against protestantism. 

Our catholic Methodists are equally warranted — in calling up- 
on protestants to prove each article of their doctrine — by the clear 
and formal testimony of holy scripture. This is their only rule 
of faith, and they avowedly maintain, that every question should 
be decided, and all disputes be terminated by its sole authority 
and guidance. They have themselves prescribed this law to 
catholics; and these have met them on their own ground. If 



MET 291 

then they feel the restraint somewhat troublesome, whom have 
they to blame but themselves ? They are the aggressors/ and 
have entered a protest against the catholic church and its pos- 
session of full fifteen hundred years ; it is their's to prove — from 
holy scripture — that this possession is founded in injustice and a 
lawless usurpation. This is a task which none have ever yet 
attempted, or we apprehend, ever will attempt — with tolerable 
success, or even — with the slightest plausibility of reason. Mr 
Mosheim, therefore, is in the right to deprecate the challenge 
of our Methodist divines. 

With equal justice does this cherished critic except against 
the method of the Cardinal Richlieu, who insisted that, as pro- 
testants alleged for the motive of their schism — that the Roman 
was no longer the true church of Jesus Christ, by proving the 
reverse, we subvert the very ground-work of the reformation. 
On this head, as in all other points, our adversaries have made 
but a very feeble defence ; they have shifted their ground, and 
sometimes have asserted the church to be invisible, sometimes to 
be a compound of all the various sects of christians — excommuni- 
cating and disclaiming all connection with each other ! The 
great Bossuet, and a whole legion of catholic theologists, have 
triumphantly demonstrated the absurdity of both these airy sys- 
tems ; nor have protestants been able to support them with any 
specious argument. They only have maintained — without the 
semblance of a proof — that the catholic church had set them the 
example in varying its faith. They have said : — we find no 
monuments in the three first ages — of such and such false doc- 
trines since adopted by the church of Rome; consequently, say 
they, they were not then believed, and of course this church 
must have varied its religious creed. These negative arguments 
are illusive. The church of the fourth age solemnly professes to 
believe no articles, but such as were believed and generally pro- 
fessed in the preceding age, and delivered by the apostles; 
therefore the existing monuments of the fourth age are a suf- 
ficient proof, that the articles in question had been already 
taught and believed before that era. What Mosheim objects 
from the avowal of even French divines with relation to the en- 
croachments of certain popes, is alike nugatory and irrelevant. 
French divines admit — that many popes had availed themselves 
of circumstances to extend their jurisdiction; to circumscribe 
that of bishops ; to dispose of church benefices, &c. ; and that 
they had thus introduced changes into the ancient discipline. 
But discipline and doctrine, unfortunately, are quite different 
things. Bossuet has demonstrated — that protestants have varied 
in their articles ofjaith : Mosheim merely proves — what no body 
ever thought of contesting with him — a variation of discipline ,♦ 
and what is this but imposition and chicanery ? Besides, it is 
the opinion of French theologians, that the Roman pontiff can- 

oo2 



292 MET 

not by himself definitively pronounce upon articles of faith, and 
that his decision is not infallible, unless confirmed by the general 
acquiescence of the whole church. How then could they, with 
any consistency, accuse the popes of altering the faith of the ca- 
tholic church ? But, in vain do we look for candor or sincerity 
in this critic and champion of the reformation, or in a host of 
controversial writers in defence of the same untenable and un- 
hallowed cause. 

Nor is it true, that catholic polemics confine themselves to in- 
validate the proofs of their antagonists in support of their reli- 
gious system — without attempting to substantiate their own. 
Let but any one peruse Veron's Profession of Catholic Faith ; 
he will find that he establishes each article upon the formal testi- 
mony of the written word. The Wallembourgs have done the 
same : but they have not stopt here. They have moreover de- 
monstrated, that the catholic church, in proving her dogmas of 
faith and refuting all erroneous doctrines, has uniformly — with 
the fathers in every age — adopted precisely the same method ; 
whereas that of the protestants is essentially defective, and calcu- 
lated to justify indiscriminately — all heresies whatever : — that the 
distinction of fundamental and non-fundamental articles, is de- 
lusory and abusive ; that their bible is adulterated both by arbi- 
trary expositions, and wilful mistranslations, as they shew at 
large by comparing them with other versions of their own ; and 
that, not satisfied with this their unwarrantable temerity, they 
have rejected every book of Holy Scripture which they know 
not how to reconcile with their novel doctrines. After this, they 
object to the reformers their want of a lawful mission, the novelty 
of their religious code, and the guilt of schism. Whether in 
this their method there be any thing like unfair dealing, we leave 
it to the good sense of our readers to determine. What Mo- 
sheim complains of with so little reason in his Catholic Metho- 
dists, English protestant writers, almost universally, practise as 
their exclusive privilege — against the church of Rome. 

Methodists (protestant) — seemingly an increasing sect, claim 
an antiquity of somewhat more than eighty years. John Wesley, 
their principal founder, was son to a clergyman of the church of 
England, and received his education at Oxford. Upon his re- 
turn he was presented to one of his father's livings. During his 
absence from the university, his brother Charles, a Mr Morgan, 
and one or two other companions, formed a little society, with 
a design, it would seem, of leading a devout life. This took 
place in 1729. Not long after John Wesley returned, and put 
himself at the head of this new society. Some few others joined, 
and among the rest, in 1735, George Whitfield. They visited 
the sick and prisoners, and gave abundant alms. Living ac- 
cording to a rule, they were denominated Methodists ; and were 



MET 293 

sometimes called — Sacramentarians, from their frequently re- 
ceiving the sacrament ; and, from their apparent holiness—the 
Holy Club. In Ireland they still retain the nick-name of 
Swaddlers, given them, it is said, in consequence of a sermon 
of one of their first lay preachers there, who had taken for his 
text in Ezech — Thou wert not swaddled at all. In 1735, John 
Wesley visited Georgia, in America, in order to preach his new 
gospel to the Indians ; but had not the good fortune to make 
any converts. After spending there to little purpose nearly two 
years, shaking off the dust from his feet, he returned to England, 
where he fell in with one Peter Bohler, a Moravian brother, 
whose orthodoxy Wesley deemed more pure than his own ; and 
accordingly he became himself a member of the brotherhood. 

Meanwhile Whitfield also, took a trip to America — with simi- 
lar religious intentions, and with the like success. Instead of 
making proselytes, he too was perverted, and exchanged his 
former creed for that of Calvinism, to which he adhered for the 
remainder of his life. This man became the founder of the 
second branch of Methodism. 

In lieu, however, of converting infidels during his residence 
in Georgia, John Wesley had succeeded in establishing there 
another small society — after the model of that of Oxford, previ- 
ously to his own conversion by Bohler the Moravian. But the 
Methodist society, properly speaking, did not begin till May, 
1738 — in London. Wesley says in his first journal, that he had 
not yet attained to justifying faith : he had, he says, the faith 
of a slave, not that of a child. But on the twenty-fourth of 
May the same year, being present at a Lutheran meeting, he 
tells us, he felt his heart to grow warm, and imagined he re- 
ceived a supernatural assurance — that his sins were forgiven. 
Whether he on this occasion became a Lutheran, is not men- 
tioned : if he did, he did not long continue so. Of his various 
peregrinations, or even hardships suffered in the cause of Me- 
thodism, as I cannot think well of his doctrine, I will say no- 
thing ; observing only, that at a very advanced age he went to 
receive the reward of his labors, in the close of the eighteenth 
century. 

According to the Wesleyan system of theology, orthodoxy or 
correctness in point of doctrine is no essential part of religion, 
if it be any part at all ! Religion consists, he says, — in holi- 
ness of disposition, — in the love of God and our fellow-creatures ; 
— no doctrine but this, in W T esley's ideas, is necessary to salva- 
tion ! Can then that gospel love of God which is the fulfilment 
of the law, exist without its essential conditions ? Heathens to 
whom the gospel hath not been preached, according to him, 
are justified by an interior light, without even knowing Christ. 
But how does this accord with those words of our Blessed Sa- 
viour — this is eternal life, that they know Thee, and Jesus Christ 
whom thou hast sent ? Wesley tells us, that those who have 



294 MET 

heard the gospel, are justified by faith alone — in formal contra- 
diction to St James, who says — Faith without works, is dead. 
Repentance, Wesley insists, is merely a conviction of sin : so 
that provided I am convinced I have done wrong, it matters 
little, it would seem, whether I be resolved to repeat the crime 
or not ! The fruits of repentance may, he says, precede justifi- 
cation, or they may not ; but they are not necessary : the only 
condition is faith, or a sure trust and confidence, that Christ 
died for me ,• yea even, quoth he, for me ; — that he hath taken 
away my sins, — even mine. ~ Surely this is a doctrine very com- 
modious, and highly agreeable to flesh and blood, however irre- 
concileable with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The moment a 
sinner believes this, continues our new evangelist, he is justi- 
fied ; and immediately the spirit (of delusion, we presume, cer- 
tainly not the spirit of truth) witnesses to his spirit, that he is 
a child of God. This is the beginning of the new birth ; for 
Wesley acknowledges none in baptism, notwithstanding our 
Blessed Redeemer's expressly teaching the contrary, in the fol- 
lowing words — Unless a person be born again of water and the 
Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (Jo. iii. 
5.) Baptism, he proceeds, is an empty sign of future blessings ; 
yet Methodists believe that all children, baptised or unbaptised, 
are saved : nay, Mr Fletcher, a celebrated Methodistic writer, 
maintains, that the guilt of original sin was actually taken from 
all men by Christ's redemption, and is found in none — evidently 
in opposition to the text just quoted. The fruits of faith, re- 
sumes Mr Wesley, are — joy, peace and love, that is felt by 
every righteous man ; — a notion not warranted by scripture, 
which says — No man knoweth whether he be worthy of love or 
hatred. (Eccles. c. ix. 1.) The being of original sin termed by 
Methodists inbred sin, remains ; but is not imputed. Perhaps 
it had escaped Mr Wesley's recollection — that all sin whatever, 
in a greater or a less degree, defiles the soul ; and that nothing 
defiled can enter into heaven. (Rev. xxi.) Sanctification, re- 
continues our great divine, is a distinct work. Are we then to 
believe that christian justification may subsist without holiness ? 
Sanctification is instantaneous, rejoins Mr Wesley, as well as 
justification ; while authors as spiritual as this gentleman, and 
much more theologically accurate, affirm it to be, in general, 
attained but gradually. Works, says he, are no more the con- 
ditions of the one than of the other ; for this plain reason, we 
presume, that they are the conditions equally — of both. By 
faith alone, Mr Wesley will have it, a man is sanctified ; al- 
though St Paul assures us, that faith strong enough to remove 
mountains, will profit nothing without charity. Methodists, 
however, exhort their hearers to good works after justification; 
for before, they tell us, they are sinful, and that even duties in an 
unjustified person — are sins. Does then the prophet Daniel 



MET 295 

advise the infidel king Nebuchodonosor — to redeem his sins by- 
adding to their number ? Sanctification is the extirpation of 
inbred sin, or concupiscence, says Mr "Wesley ; but what says 
St Paul ? — I see another law in my members fighting against the 
law of my mind, (Rom. vii.) While Mr Wesley declares, that 
no concupiscence remains ; and that the evil nature is gone : — 
that a sanctified person may indeed be tempted from abroad, 
but not from within ; It is sin which dwelleth in me, that doeth it, 
repeats the same apostle, ibid. Which of the two must a chris- 
tian believe ? 

In general, Methodists admit, that a person may fall from a 
state of justification, and even of sanctification ; although Wesley 
sometimes speaks of a state from which one cannot fall: — to such 
St Paul addresses himself to little purpose, when he says — If any 
one thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. By 
reading Lord King's Account of the Primitive Church, Mr 
Wesley adopted the opinion, that bishops and presbyters are 
the same order. (Against this erroneous doctrine see the article 
Aerius.) When old, he ordained Dr Coke bishop, and two of his 
lay-preachers presbyters. Coke sailed immediately for America, 
where, he also, took upon ' himself to consecrate one of his 
fellows bishop; raid thus was founded, in 1784, the Metho- 
distic pretended episcopal church of America. A new prayer- 
book was published for the use of that church, and of the Me- 
thodists in general, under the title — Sunday Service of the 
Methodist ; from which the catechism, the Athanasian and 
Nicene creeds, the absolution in the morning and afternoon 
service, and for the visitation of the sick, are retrenched, and 
the thirty nine articles reduced to twenty-five — with various other 
material alterations of the common Book of Prayer ; and yet 
Methodists affect to make a part of the church of England, 
whose discipline and doctrines they so unequivocally discard ! 

The supremacy of the sect is lodged in the conference, or the 
collective body of the travelling preachers. They have superin- 
tendants, local preachers, exhorters and band-leaders. The 
classes are small companies of Methodists who meet weekly under 
their leader ; whose office it is to enquire — how their souls pros- 
per ? — To advise, reprove, comfort or exhort, as may be need- 
ful : to receive their offerings for the relief of the poor ; and to 
pay to the stewards of the society what is thus collected, and 
to inform the minister if any should be sick, or incorrigible in 
their disorders. 

The bands are smaller companies of married or unmarried 
persons of each sex, apart ; in order to confess to each other 
their sins — of thought, word or deed, — together with their re- 
spective temptations, and behaviour under them ; the leader of 
the band first setting the example, and then enquiring of each 
their particular failings, &c. 



296 MET 

Love feasts are quarterly meetings, where, in token of bro- 
therly love, each one receives a small bit of cake, and generally 
before they are dismissed that, say they, which endureth unto 
everlasting life. 

The Conference is annually convened in order to consult about 
the affairs of the societies. 

The office of a Helper is to preach morning and evening ; to 
meet the Society and Bands weekly, and to see the Leaders also 
weekly. 

The Assistant was the chief preacher in a circuit who imme- 
diately assisted Mr Wesley in the regulation of the societies. 
See Wesley's Life by Messrs Coke and Moore. 

The two grand divisions consist of the Election or Calvinistic 
Methodists in Whitfield's Connexion, and the Wesley an or Ar- 
minian Methodists. The latter hold that Christ died for all, and 
that justification and sanctification are an interior work of the 
Spirit, as observed above : the former maintain imputed righte- 
ousness ; that Christ died only for the elect ; — and are Predestina- 
rians. These two have branched into many other less conside- 
rable sects. For it often happens that a preacher turns inde- 
pendent, when he is popular enough to form a party and shake 
off the yoke of the Conference. The most noted of these parties 
is that of the Kilhamites, whose author Mr Kilham contended, 
that a proportionable number of lay-members and local preachers 
should be admitted to sit in the Conference with the travelling 
preachers ; and that an account should be given to the Methodist 
society at large — of the sums lodged in their hands : this being 
refused, a division took place, and Kilham was excommunicated. 
For a more minute detail of Methodism, its various rules and 
discipline, Wesley's Life by Messrs Coke and Moore, Nightin- 
gale's Portraiture of the Methodists, the Rev. Nicholas Gilbert's 
tracts, together with Mr Slack's answers, &c. may be consulted. 
The latter gentleman by the bye, in his attempts at a reply to 
Mr Gilbert, has only exposed, still more apparently, to the intel- 
ligent reader, the weakness of the cause which he undertakes to 
advocate. 

In the Methodist community, it will not be denied, that great 
numbers of well meaning persons are to be found, who are in- 
fluenced by the best of motives : but their principles are wrong ; 
they rest not on a sound foundation ; they have abandoned the 
only criterion of truth. That authority which Christ hath most 
emphatically recommended, and the common creed of christians 
acknowledges, they have discarded as a treacherous rule : they 
refuse to hear that church which our blessed Saviour hath com- 
manded all to hear — under pain of being looked upon as the 
heathen man or the publican ,- — that church which, as St Paul 
assures us, is the very pillar and firm support of the truth. Their 
prophets were self-commissioned j they undertook to preach the 



MET 297 

faitL to others, before they knew themselves what true faith was ; 
before they so much as believed in Jesus Christ. (See Wesley's 
Journ. 1.) Of such, Almighty God himself heretofore com- 
plained : — They have prophesied falsly to you in my name, and I 
have not sent them, saith the Lord. (Jerem. xxix. 9.) 

If it be objected, that much good has resulted from Mr Wes- 
ley's preaching ; that great disorders have been reformed, and 
the morals of the people altered for the better ; — all this we are 
willing to allow, and feel no reluctance in conceding to Mr Wes- 
ley the merit of so considerable a benefaction to society ; nay, 
we will even give him credit in most instances, for the purity of 
his intentions. All this too, we are not less disposed to admit 
in favor of some other fellow sectarists ; George Fox, for in- 
stance, and William Penn ; — and to extend it even to the whole 
body of the people called Quakers. But will this suffice to veri- 
fy their doctrine ; to make that orthodox which even Mr Wesley 
would allow to be unscriptural and fundamentally erroneous ? If 
it be said : — Mr Wesley was a learned, and a good man : — so 
were thousands of those whose opinions in religious matters he 
despised; — the Cyprians, the Cyrils, the Ambroses, the Basils, 
the Chrysostoms, the Jeroms, the Augustines, the Gregories, 
and an innumerable phalanx of enlightened and most holy 
personages who have done honor to religion, and to human 
nature itself, in each succeeding age. Were these all wrong ; 
and the founder of the Methodist persuasion, — a society of 
but yesterday, the first discoverer of pure religion and the 
genuine truth ? The supposition would imply blasphemy, and 
give the -lie to the promises of Christ, whose sacred words shall 
not pass away, though heaven and earth, he says, shall pass away, 
(Mat. xxiv.) 

Before we dismiss this article, we are free to acknowledge our- 
selves at a loss to know — what Mr Wesley means by faith alone. 
Does he mean to exclude the divine virtues of Hope and Charity ? 
The former he seems absolutely to discard, as in his system all 
doubt and fear must be done away; and perfect security of our 
acceptance with God, and eternal salvation substituted in its 
place. Why then, we must ask again, does the great apostle of 
the Gentiles declare in his first epistle to the Corinthians, c. 1 % 
that if he should have all faith even so as to remove mountains, 
and give his substance to the poor and his body to the flames, 
and have not charity ;— it would avail him nothing? Right; 
says Mr Wesley: but justifying faith produces charity. Rather 
does not charity produce justifying faith ? Independently of cha- 
rity, St Paul assures us, faith cannot justify. Consequently — 
not faith alone, but charity with the other two divine virtues 
conjointly ; the greater of the three as we are informed by the 
same apostle (ibid) being charity. Does Mr Wesley mean all 
this ? If not ; his doctrine is evidently unscriptural : if he does ; 

p p 



298 MIL 

why does he not speak intelligibly ? Had he done so, neither 
Calvinism nor Antinomianism would have classed him among 
its patrons. 

Millenarians — those who in the second and third age* 
maintained, that at the end of the world Jesus Christ would de- 
scend upon earth to establish a temporal kingdom, in which the 
faithful should enjoy a temporary felicity — during the term of one 
thousand years before the last general judgment, and still more 
perfect bliss in heaven : the Greeks denominated these christians 
Chiliasts ; an epithet synonymous with that of Millenarians. 
This opinion was grounded upon that passage in the twentieth 
chapter of the Apocalypse, where it is said, that the martyrs 
shall reign with Jesus Christ a thousand years. Some primitive 
fathers, among whom were Papias, bishop of Hierapolis and a 
disciple of St John the Evangelist, and after him — St Justin, St 
Ireneus, Lactantius, Tertullian, &c. understood this mysterious 
prophecy in the literal sense of the words. But they did not ima- 
gine with Cerinthus and his sectarians, that under the supposed 
reign of Jesus Christ — the just would be rewarded with sensual 
gratifications. So gross an idea never entered their mind : all 
sensual satisfactions they absolutely disavowed: nor did the 
greater part of them suppose the Millenarian system to be a point 
of faith. St Justin himself whom some have thought to incline 
that way — from an ambiguous expression in his dialogue with 
Tryphon — declares in plain terms, (ibid.) that there were many 
pious and orthodox christians of a contrary opinion. 

Some moderns have erroneously contended, that the fathers 
generally held the Millenarian doctrine as a point of catholic tra- 
dition. Nepos indeed, who was a zealous and learned bishop of 
Arsinoe and who died in the communion of the church, propa- 
gated that mistaken notion in his vicinity, and wrote in defence 
of it two books entitled On the Promises. This work St Diony- 
sius of Alexandria confuted by his two books against the Millena- 
rian heresy. He moreover undertook a journey to Arsinoe, and 
held a public disputation with Coracion the chief of the Millena- 
rians, in which he confuted them with equal strength of rea- 
soning and moderation ; and — with such success — that Coracion 
publicly revoked his error. It was absolutely exploded in that 
country, and was unanimously condemned — upon mature exa- 
mination into the sound and uniform catholic tradition ; which 
could not be affected by the disagreement of some few persons or 
particular churches. The Millenarian system has been revived 
by several Lutherans in Germany ; and— among the English 
protestants — by Dr Wells, in his Notes on the Apocalypse ; and 
by some few others ; Johanna Southcote, &c. 

Another kind of Millenarianism is mentioned by some writers 
which consists in the fancy that once every thousand years there 



M O N 299 

shall be a cessation of the pains of hell. This error likewise, ori- 
ginated in the misinterpretation of the Apocalypse. 

Monotheltsm — a term of Greek derivation signifying the 
doctrine of but one will in Christ. Athanasius its author was 
patriarch of the Jacobites or Eutychians in Syria. In Christ 
he acknowledged two distinct natures, the Divine and the hu- 
man ; but only one will. This Demi-Eutychianism is a glaring 
inconsistency ; for the will is an essential property of the nature : 
and Christ himself sometimes speaks of his human will as distinct 
from the Divine ; for instance, in his prayer during his agony in 
the garden. This Monothelite heresy which seems to have 
been invented as an expedient to compound with Eutychianism, 
the emperor Heraclius confirmed by an edict called Ecthesis, or 
the Exposition ; declaring that there is only one will in Christ, 
namely, that of the Divine Word : it was condemned by pope 
John IV. Cyrus bishop of Phasis, a bigotted Monothelite, was 
by Heraclius preferred to the patriarchate of Alexandria in 629. 
Here St Sophronius, prostrate at his feet, in vain besought him 
not to publish his erroneous sentiments. Travelling thence into 
Syria in 634, this servant of God was elected patriarch of Jeru- 
salem ; and in the course of the same year he assembled a coun- 
cil of all the bishops of his patriarchate — to condemn Monothe- 
lism and composed a synodal letter — to explain and prove the 
catholic faith. This learned epistle, afterwards approved in the 
sixth general council, he sent to pope Honorius, and to Sergius 
of Constantinople. The latter, by an insidious letter arid cap- 
tious expressions, had persuaded pope Honorius to recommend 
a mysterious kind of silence on the subject, conformably to the 
intentions of Heraclius. It is evident, notwithstanding, from 
the most authentic monuments, that Honorius never assented to 
that error, but always adhered to the truth. (See Nat. Alex, 
saec. 7. Witasse and Tournely, Tr. de Incarn.) However, his 
silence was ill timed, and might be deemed a species of conni- 
vance j and he himself together with Sergius and the other chief 
abettors of Monothelism, was by name condemned in the sixth 
general council, celebrated at Constantinople in 680. Thirty 
years afterwards, the emperor Philippicus patronised anew the 
cause of Monothelism ; but he reigned only two years ; and, un- 
der Leo the Isaurian, the heresy of the Iconoclasts caused that of 
the Monothelites to sink into oblivion : the remnants of the 
sect were confounded with the Eutychians. 

Montanists — were the adherents to the tenets of Montanus, 
This man was a convert and a native of Mysia on the confines of 
Phrygia, whose disappointed ambition to occupy the first digni- 
ties of the church, impelled him to impugn its doctrines. He 
commenced prophet, and began, in an enthusiastic strain, to ut- 

pp2 



300 MON 

ter extraordinary expressions. Prisca or Priscilla, and Maxi- 
milla, two women of quality but of abandoned morals, left their 
husbands, and, like Montanus, affected a mysterious kind of 
jargon ; pretending that they succeeded the prophets. Montanus 
ranked himself above the apostles, and said he had received the 
Paraclete, or the Holy Ghost, promised by our Redeemer to 
perfect his new law of the gospel. He denied that the church 
had power to forgive the sins — of idolatry, of murder and impu- 
rity ; and hardly would admit any sinners to repentance. St 
Paul had allowed second marriages. Montanus prohibited them, 
as inconsistent with the perfect law of chastity ; and he forbade 
christians to flee in time of persecution. Thus did this 
hypocritical innovator affect a severity of doctrine, to which his 
manners did not correspond. His followers were also denomi- 
nated from their native country — Cataphryges, and Pepuzeni 
from Pepuzium, a little town in Phrygia which was their me- 
tropolis; and which they called Jerusalem. (Euseb. 1. 5. c. 17. 
St Hier. ep. 54-. ad Marcel. Tert. 1. de Fuga. de Pudic. &c.) 

The Montanists boasted of their martyrs, as did also the 
JVIarcionites ; a thing not very ordinary with sectarists in gene- 
ral, as St Ireneus and Origen remark ; nor indeed could these 
with any plausibility support their high pretensions. Asterius 
Urbanus, one of the writers that undertook a refutation of their 
errors, positively affirms, that the Montanists never had had 
any martyrs, and that among the few whom they pretended to be 
such, some had paid a sum of money for their enlargement out 
of prison, and the rest had suffered for real crimes. Apollonius, 
another catholic author, quoted by Eusebius, confounding the 
hypocrisy of the Montanists, reproached their pretended pro- 
phetesses with infamous debaucheries. And " does a prophet," 
exclaims this ancient writer, " colour his hair, paint his eye- 
brows, play at dice, or lend out money upon usury ? Of these 
things I will prove them to be guilty." Their pretended 
prophecies and errors being condemned as impious, the 
followers of Montanus were excommunicated. Montanus him- 
self, and Maximilla, agitated by the evil spirit that possessed 
them, afterwards — according to a popular tradition when Euse- 
bius wrote, laid violent hands upon themselves. 

These enthusiasts pretended that, besides the fast of Lent 
observed by catholics, there were other fasts imposed by the Di- 
vine Spirit. Accordingly they kept three Lents in the year, 
each of two weeks, — and upon dry-meats, as necessary injunc- 
tions of the spirit — by the new revelations made to Montanus 
which they preferred to the writings of the apostles ; and they 
said, these laws were to be observed for ever. The great Ter- 
tullian, as St Jerom informs us, resenting some affronts which 
he imagined had been put upon him by the Roman clergy, in 
revenge became a Montanist 5 forgetting in his passion those 



N A Z 301 

maxims by which he had himself triumphantly refuted all here- 
sies — both of past and future ages. (See his admirable book of 
Prescriptions , fyc.) Nor does his prevarication take from the 
solidity and acuteness of his former arguments, any more than 
the fall of Solomon can affect the excellence of his former in- 
spired writings. 

A certain protestant writer in 1751, undertook to shew, that 
the Montanists had been ranked in the class of heretics without 
sufficient reason. But Mosheim vindicates the justice of their 
condemnation, 1st, because it was a very reprehensible error to 
pretend — to teach a morality more perfect than that of Jesus 
Christ ; 2nd, it was not less unpardonable to atttempt to per- 
suade the people — that God himself spoke by the mouth of 
Montanus ; 3rd, it was the Montanists that separated from the 
church, rather than the church that expelled them from its 
pale : it was on their part an intolerable pride — to pretend to 
establish a society more perfect than the church of Christ, and 
to nick-name the members of her holy communion Psychici, or 
sensual animals. And is it not somewhat singular, that Mo- 
sheim, in arguing thus against the Montanists, was not aware 
of the argument being perfectly applicable to his own dearly- 
beloved Lutheranism ? 

The Montanists divided into various branches. SS. Epiphanius 
and Augustine speak of the Artotyrites, the Ascites^ &c. (See 
those articles.) Some of them adopted part of the dreams of the 
Valcntinians and Markesians. The Passalorynchites or Petta- 
lorynchites lay mighty stress on the ceremony of putting their 
fingers upon their noses and into their mouths — during prayer, 
and almost always when they had their hands at liberty, — to sig- 
nify their extraordinary recollection and religious silence. St 
Jerom tells us, that some of these still subsisted in Galatia ; who 
were the object of certain imperial ordinances — so late as the 
commencement of the fifth age : such is the delirium of fanati- 
cism ! 

Moravians. See Anabaptists. 



N 

Nazareans — were a sect equally obnoxious to Jews and 
Christians. They allowed Christ to be the greatest of the pro- 
phets ; but said he was a mere man, whose natural parents were 
Joseph and Mary : they joined all the ceremonies of the old law 
with those of the new, and observed both the Jewish Sabbath, 



302 N E S 

and the Sunday. Mosheim in his ecclesiastical history affects to 
blame St Epiphanius, for placing the Nazareans on the list with 
heretics. If then, they denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, and 
in spite of the decisions of the council at Jerusalem still persisted 
in the superstitious observance of the Jewish ceremonies, were 
they notwithstanding, in the eyes of the protestants, very 
orthodox ? 

Nestorians — the followers of Nestorius, a monk and priest 
of Antioch, who was promoted to the see of Constantinople in 
428. The retiredness and severity of his life, joined with the 
exterior of apparent virtue, a superficial learning and a fluency 
of words, had gained him some reputation in the world. The 
study of the fathers he had neglected ; was a man of weak judg- 
ment, extremely vain, violent and obstinate. Such is the cha- 
racter which he bears in the history of those times, and which 
is given him by Socrates and Theodoret. The latter he had 
formerly imposed upon by his hypocrisy. Marius Mercator in- 
forms us, that immediately upon his preferment, he began to 
persecute with great fury — the Arians, the Macedonians, the 
Manichees and Quartodecimans, whom he caused to be banish- 
ed from his diocese : while he himself denied the necessity of 
grace, and — on that account — received to his communion Ce- 
lestius and Julian, though previously condemned by the popes 
Innocent and Zozimus, and exiled by the emperor Honorius, 
for Pelagianism. Theodosius, however, commanded them to 
leave Constantinople, notwithstanding the protection of the 
bishop. Nestorius himself soon began to teach new errors — from 
the pulpit ; maintaining there were two persons in Christ, that of 
God, and that of man, joined only by a moral union ; by 
which, he said, the Godhead dwelt in the humanity, merely as 
in its temple. Hence he denied the incarnation, or — that God 
was made man ; and said, the Blessed Virgin ought not to be 
styled the mother of God, but only of the man who was Christ ; 
whose humanity was no more than the temple of the Divinity, — 
not a nature hypostatically assumed by the Divine Person; 
though at length, overruled by the common suffrage of antiqui- 
ty, he allowed her the empty title of mother of God ; but con- 
tinued to deny the mystery. At these novelties the people were 
not a little shocked ; and the priests St Proclus and Eusebius, 
bishop afterwards of Dorylceum, with many others, separated 
themselves from his communion, after having in vain attempted 
to reclaim him by remonstrances. His homilies every where 
excited clamour — against the errors and the blasphemies which 
they contained. St Cyril of Alexandria having read them, sent 
to him a mild expostulation ; but was answered with haughtiness 
and disdain. Pope Celestine being applied to by both parties, 
examined his doctrine in a council at Rome, — and pronounced 



N E S 303 

a sentence of excommunication and deposition against the au- 
thor, unless within ten days after notification of the sentence 
he publicly condemned and retracted it 5 appointing St Cyril 
his vicegerent in this affair, to see the sentence put in execu- 
tion. (Cone. T. 3. p. 343. Liberat. in Breviar. c. 4.) 

St Cyril, together with his third and last summons, sent to 
Nestorius twelve propositions, accompanied with as many ana- 
themas, hence called his anathematisms, — to be signed by him as 
a proof of his orthodoxy. But Nestorius appeared more ob- 
stinate than ever. This occasioned the calling of the third ge- 
neral council opened at Ephesus in 43 1 by two hundred bishops — 
with St Cyril at their head, as legate and representative of pope 
Celestine. (St Leo, Ep. 72, c. 3. Cone. T. 3, p. 656, 980.) 
Nestorius, though in the town and thrice cited, refused to 
appear. His heretical sermons were read, and depositions were 
received against him ; after which his doctrine was condemned, 
and the sentence of excommunication and deposition was pro- 
nounced against him, and notified to the emperor. 

Six days after this, John, the patriarch of Antioch, arrived 
at Ephesus with forty-one Oriental bishops ; who secretly favor- 
ing the person — not the errors of Nestorius, of which they deem- 
ed him innocent — had advanced but slowly on their journey to 
the place. On their arrival, instead of communing with the 
council, they assembled apart, and presumed to excommunicate 
St Cyril and his adherents. Both sides applied to the emperor 
for redress, by whose orders St Cyril and Nestorius were soon 
after both arrested and confined ; but Cyril was the worst treat- 
ed of the two. He was even upon the point, through the 
greater interest of his antagonist at court, of being banished — 
when three legates from pope Celestine ; — Arcadius and Pro- 
jectus — bishops, and Philip a priest, — arrived at Ephesus. 
This gave a new turn to affairs in St Cyril's favor. The three 
legates having considered the proceedings of the council, the 
condemnation of Nestorius was confirmed ; Cyril's conduct was 
approved ; and the sentence pronounced against him was de- 
clared null and invalid. He therefore was enlarged with honor. 
The Orientals, notwithstanding, persisted in their schisai — till 
the year 433, when they made their peace with Cyril, con- 
demned Nestorius, and gave a clear and orthodox exposition of 
their faith. The heresiarch retreated from Constantinople to 
his monastery at Antioch; where John, though formerly his 
friend, finding him very perverse and obstinate in his heresy, 
and attempting to pervert others, entreated the emperor Theo- 
dosius to remove him. In conclusion, he was banished to 
Oasis, situate in the desert of Upper Egypt, on the borders of 
Lybia, in 43 1 ; and there ended his days in misery and im- 
penitence. His sect remains to the present time very numerous 
in the East. 



304 N E S 

After the condemnation of his doctrine and of his person by 
the general council at Ephesus, Nestorius had still a multi- 
tude of obstinate abettors ; particularly in the diocese of Con- 
stantinople, and in the provinces that lay contiguous to Meso- 
potamia. Proscribed and exiled by the Eastern emperors, they 
retired into the territories of the Persian kings ; and were patro- 
nised by them out of enmity to their lawful sovereigns. A cer- 
tain Barsumas, bishop of Nisibis, by his extraordinary influence 
at the Persian court, effected the establishment of Nestorianism 
over the different provinces of that extensive kingdom. Its sec- 
taries, since the conquest of the Persian monarchy by the Maho- 
metans in the seventh century, have uniformly enjoyed a larger 
portion of religious liberty than the catholics. This may be 
easily accounted for from the striking conformity between the 
Nestorian manner of speaking of Jesus Christ, and that of Ma- 
homet in the Alcoran ; a circumstance which they did not fail 
themselves to notice, in order to curry favor with the conquerors. 
(See Perpet. de la Foi, t. 4, 1. 1, c. 5. and Assemani's Biblioth. 
Orient t. 3, 4.) 

Positive documents assure us that — so early as the year 540 — 
Nestorianism had already reached the coasts of Malabar ; and 
in the seventh age its missionaries penetrated into China ; where 
the Christianity introduced by them, subsisted, it is said, till the 
thirteenth century. The sect was also established at Samarcand 
and in other parts of Tartary, till the mighty and not less bar- 
barous conqueror Tamerlane, planted on the ruins of all other 
systems of religion, the impious doctrines of Mahometism 
throughout the greatest part of Asia. 

About the year 1500, when the Portuguese after having 
doubled the Cape of Good Hope, penetrated into the Indies, 
they were much surprised to find numberless small cantonments 
of Christians : nor were the latter less astonished at the arrival 
among them — of fellow christians from so remote a region. They 
called themselves Christians of St Thomas, and were then distri- 
buted in fourteen hundred boroughs along the coast of Malabar. 
They had but one pastor, who was a bishop or archbishop 
sent them by the Nestorian patriarch of Babylon, or rather, of 
Mozul, whom the sect had complimented with the epithet of 
catholic. Oppressed and persecuted by certain pagan princes of 
those parts, they implored the protection of the Portuguese, and 
notified to their patriarch the arrival of these strangers, as a very 
providential and extraordinary event, They ascribe their origin 
to the apostle St Thomas, from whom, they say — and not with- 
out some plausibility — they first derived their christian name and 
religion, and have constantly professed it down to the present 
time. They had been implicated in the errors of Nestorianism 
ever since the fifth century. The Portuguese missionaries con- 
ceived the desiim of reuniting; them to the catholic church, froui 



NES 305 

which they had been separated upwards of a thousand years. 
The work was undertaken by Don John d' Albuquerque first 
archbishop of Goa, and prosecuted with success by his successor 
Don Alexis, aided by the society of St Ignatius. (See Govea's 
Hist. Orient. &c.) 

Had the Portuguese continued peaceable possessors of Mala- 
bar, the whole christian population of those parts, it is more than 
probable, would have been catholic. But while the Dutch were 
in possession of it, they promoted the division — instead of se- 
conding the efforts of catholic missionaries. M. Anquetil who 
travelled through that district in 1758, found the churches of 
Malabar divided into three partitions ; the first catholic, of the 
Latin rite ; the second also catholic, of the Syriac rite ; the third 
was that appropriated to the use of the Syrian schismatics. 
Fifty thousand only, of two hundred thousand christians, were 
schismatics. P. Le Brun and La Croze had severally brought down 
their histories of these churches only to the year 1663, the epoch 
of the Dutch conquest of Cochin. M. Anquetil (Disc. Prelim, 
du Zend Avesta, p. 179) has continued it to the year 1758. 
He informs us, that in 1685 the schismatic Malabarians had been 
accommodated by their Dutch masters successively — with two arch- 
bishops, one bishop and one monk, from Syria ; who were all 
Syrian Jacobites, and sowed their own errors among these igno- 
rant people. Thus they exchanged their former heresy of above 
a thousand years prescription — tor that of Jacobitism or Euty- 
chianism, without seeming aware of it themselves — notwith- 
standing the formal opposition of these two systems. In 1758 
their archbishop was a Syrian monk — extremely ignorant — attend- 
ed by a chorepiscopus little more enlightened than himself, who 
favored M. Anquetil with the sight of the Syriac liturgies, and 
allowed him to take down in writing the words of consecration. 
He afterwards delivered to him his profession of the Jacobite 
faith in the same language. 

Mosheim and some other protestant writers, have in vain at- 
tempted to justify Nestorius and his sect from heretical opinions. 
The catholic doctrine declares, that in Jesus Christ there are 
two natures, — the Divine and the human ; but only one person : 
that in him the humanity subsists — not by itself, but by the person 
of the Word to which it is substantially united ; so that Jesus 
Christ is not a human, but a Divine person : otherwise he could 
not be denominated God-Man or Man-God ; nor would it be 
true to say — that the Word was made flesh ; was born of a wo- 
man ; died, and redeemed us with his sacred blood, &c. Hence 
no sophistical explanations, no subtilty of logic will ever reconcile 
the opinions of the Nestorians, or their language, with 
Holy Scripture. Mosheim adds, that — to the immortal honor of 
the Nestorians — they alone, of all the christians of the East, have 
been always clear of that multitude of superstitious practices and 

29 



306 NE S : 

notions which have infected the Greek and Latin churches* 
They are however, accused of teaching with the Greeks— that 
the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father only, and not from 
the Son y of denying with Theodorus of Mopsuestia original 
sin, &c. Would it not then have been for their immortal honor, to 
have first vindicated them from these serious charges ? Mosheim 
doubtless wished to insinuate, that the Nestorians had never held 
the same doctrine with the church of Rome — concerning the 
seven sacraments, the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucha- 
rist* or Transubstantiation ; the Veneration and Invocation of 
Saints, Prayer for the Dead, &c. But the learned Renaudot in 
the fourth book of the Perpetuite de la Foi j Assemani in his 
Biblioth. Orient. 1. 3, part 2 ; Le Brun in his Explic. des cerem. 
de la Messe, t. 6, and Dr Hawarden in his Church of Christ, — 
have proved the contrary by documents the most incontrover- 
tible ; documents against which their adversaries are unable to 
produce even the shadow of an argument. Upon their first se- 
paration from the catholic church, the Nestorians used, and have 
continued to use down to the present times, the liturgy of Con- 
stantinople, which they translated into the Syriac tongue. Be- 
sides this they have other two ; the first of which they term the 
liturgy of the apostles ; and it appears, in fact, to be more an- 
cient than Nestorius ; — the other is that of Theodorus of Mop- 
suestia. That of Nestorius or of Constantinople — is the only one 
into which they have introduced their error concerning the Incar- 
nation : the two former remain orthodox. In them, as in all 
the other Oriental liturgies without exception, we find the doc- 
trines of the real Presence, Transubstantiation, the Commemo- 
ration of the blessed Virgin and of the Saints, Prayer for the 
Dead, &c. unequivocally noticed. These schismatics have always 
celebrated mass in Syriac — not in their vulgar tongue — wherever 
they have been established ; and have always admitted the same 
number of sacred books with catholics. Whence it evidently 
follows, that in the fifth century when the Nestorian schism first 
commenced, the whole christian church professed the identical 
dogmas of belief, which protestants are now pleased to style — 
new doctrines unknown to antiquity, and — the mere inventions of 
the church of Rome. 

In every age there have not been wanting zealous catholic 
missionaries who have attempted to reclaim these deluded peo- 
ple, and frequently with very great success. Many even of 
their patriarchs have at different periods declared themselves 
catholics, and have formally abjured their errors. Some indeed, 
it is to be feared, were not sincere: but it is by no means the 
case of all. One of these patriarchs called Abjesu or Abedjesu, 
went twice to Rome, repeated each time his abjuration, and 
sent his profession of faith to the council of Trent. He received 
the archiepiscopal pallium at the hands of th^ sovereign pontiff. 



N O E 307 

and on his return into Syria applied himself successfully to the 
conversion of his people. He was a person well skilled in the 
Oriental languages, and composed himself many useful treatises. 
In the year 1304, the patriarch Jaballah had caused an orthodox 
profession of faith to be presented, in his name, to pope Benedict 
XL and in the sixteenth century John Sulaka, patriarch also — 
of the Nestorians, had done the same under the popes Julius 
III. and Pius IV. Abedjesu was his immediate successor. 
According to the gazette of France, (1771, 5th June, art. Rome) 
— the Dominican missionaries in Asia reconciled to the church 
the schismatical patriarch of Mozul, with other five Nestorian 
bishops of the same province. As to the invidious remarks of 
the Lutheran historian so often quoted, they are for the most 
part equally slanderous and groundless. But slander and mis- 
representation, we are sorry to observe, are the usual weapons 
of those that quarrel with the catholic church. 

Nicolaites — ancient heretics, who scrupled not to eat meat 
offered to the idols, and held prostitution to be an act of virtue. 
(Apocalype, c. 2. St Iren. 1. 1, c. 27. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 
8.) Whether these sectaries- really owed their origin to Nicolas 
the deacon, one of the seventy-two disciples of our Lord, — or 
only, like some other heretics, wished to add authority to their 
errors by fathering them upon a man of apostolic sanctity and 
character, ecclesiastical writers do not agree. Some authors have 
even expressed their doubts — whether any such sect had ever 
been in existence. This, however, is a notion diametrically op- 
posed to all antiquity. They were a sensual race of men — ig- 
norant and superstitious ; who believed equally in evil spirits, 
and in the mysteries of Christianity ; and, for fear of offending 
the demons, they eat of meats consecrated to the heathen gods. 
The Nicolaites afterwards adopted the opinions of the Gnostics 
— respecting the primary origin of the universe. (See their article.) 
There was a species of Nicolaites so late as the seventh century ; 
but, as their errors are not detailed, it is very possible the name 
may have been given to those clergymen, who after their ordi- 
nation retained their wives — a practice not unusual in that age, 
though never sanctioned by the western church. (See Cone. 
Galliae. t. p. 330.) 

Noetians— -so called from their author Noetus, a native of 
Smyrna. About the year 240 this man began to teach — that 
there was but one person in God, who sometimes took the name 
of Father, sometimes that of Son, — and himself assumed our 
human nature ; — was born of the Virgin, and died upon the 
cross. Being cited before his superiors, Noetus disavowed his 
errors ; but soon relapsed. He called himself Moses, and his 
brother Aaron. Praxeas and Sabellius afterwards maintained 

H2 



308 NOV 

the same errors with Noetus ; (See their articles) though it does 
not appear that the No'etians were ever very numerous. They were 
solidly refuted by St Hypolitus of Porto, who flourished at 
that period. Beausobre pretends (Hist, du Manich. t. 1, p. 
535) that SS. Hypolitus and Epiphanius ascribed to Noetus 
opinions which he never taught. But Mosheim (Hist. Christ. 
saec. 3, p. 686) shows, that these two fathers of the church were 
perfectly right in their inferences ; that Noetlts's system evident- 
ly destroyed all distinction of persons in the Blessed Trinity, 
and that he held it inconsistent to admit three persons — without 
admitting also three Gods. What the English translator Mr 
Maclaine says upon this subject, is not less unreasonable than 
it is un theological. This gentleman, always excessively liberal 
in regard of sectarists, but ever the reverse when the conduct of 
the catholic church and its pastors is to be censured, blames 
the primitive fathers for opposing innovators with their own 
weapons, and giving by the aid of that philosophy which the 
latter abused, true and orthodox explanations — in opposition to 
their captious and sophistic arguments pointed against the chief 
mysteries of catholic faith ! Such is the injustice of some pro* 
testant writers ; such their obstinate and indecent enmity to 
their mother-church ! 

Non-Conformists — are the sects in Globo — so called from 
their non- conformity with the protestant church of England, 
established by law : — Puritans, Anabaptists, Quakers, &c. &c. 
See their articles. 

Novatians — the adherents of the first anti-pope Novatian. 
He had been a Stoic philosopher, and had acquired a considera- 
ble reputation for eloquence. At length he embraced the chris- 
tian faith ; but deferred his baptism — till, in a dangerous fit of ill- 
ness, he received the sacrament of regeneration lying on his sick- 
bed. He was afterwards ordained priest. During the persecu- 
tion of Decius, instead of assisting his suffering brethren — as was 
expected of him — he kept himself in close retirement ; and, to do 
away all unfavorable impressions on the public mind from such a 
conduct, he afterwards affected an extreme of rigorism, and com- 
plained that some who had fallen in the persecution, were too easi- 
ly readmitted to communion. By this pharisaical zeal he formed 
a small party, and counted some among the confessors who had 
been imprisoned for the faith, in his interest. He was much em- 
boldened in his cabals by one Novatus a wicked priest of Car- 
thage, who having strenuously abetted the deacon Felicissi- 
mus — in the schism which he raised against St Cyprian about the 
beginning of the year 251 — to avoid the sentence of excommuni- 
cation threatened by his bishop, fled to Rome, and there 
either first excited Novatian to commence an open schism, of 



NOV 309 

•at least very much encouraged him to persevere. So notoriously 
were ambition and faction the character of this turbulent man r 
that though at Carthage he had condemned the conduct of St 
Cyprian towards the Lapsed as too severe, he was not ashamed to 
ground his schism at Rome upon the opposite principle ; there 
censuring the self-same discipline of the church as a criminal 
relaxation of the law of the gospel. 

To frame a clear conception of the controversy in question, it is 
necessary to observe, that those christians who in the persecu- 
tion had offered incense to idols, were called Sacrificati and 
Thurificati ; others who purchased with money of the imperial 
officers libels or certificates, as if they had actually offered sa- 
crifice, (by which, indeed, they were guilty of the same scandal) 
were termed Libellatici or Certificate-men. All the Lapsed, up- 
on giving marks of sincere repentance, were admitted by the 
church to a course of severe canonical penitence, which was 
shorter and milder with regard to the Certificate-men than to 
Apostates. The term being completed, or abridged by an in- 
dulgence of the bishop, they were finally received to communion. 
If any penitent during his penitential course happened to be in 
danger of death, the benefit of absolution and communion was 
granted him ; and this discipline was confirmed by several coun- 
cils — at Rome, in Africa and other places. At this Novatian 
took offence ; pretending that the Lapsed ought never again to 
be admitted to penance, or to receive absolution, — not even after 
performing a regular course of penitence, or at the article of 
death. To his schism Novatian quickly added heresy; and 
maintained, that the church had not received from Christ the 
power of absolving sinners from the crime of apostacy, however 
penitent they might be. His followers afterwards taught the 
same with regard to murder and fornication ; and condemned 
second marriages. They were called from him Novatians, and 
also Cathari or Puritans, as the rigid Calvinists have been deno- 
minated in latter times in England. Having already separated 
many persons from the communion of St Cornelius, he at length 
decoyed three ignorant and besotted bishops from a corner of 
Italy to Rome. These he prevailed upon while intoxicated, to 
ordain him bishop of that see. One of them returned soon after 
to his duty — confessing and lamenting his guilt, and was ad- 
mitted by St Cornelius to lay-communion ; although he still 
remained deposed from the episcopal dignity, as well as his two 
accomplices in this act of schism and of sacrilege ; and the holy 
pope substituted other pastors in their place. Thus Novatian 
became the first anti-pope ; and was acknowledged by none but 
heretics. He is called by St Cyprian— " a deserter from the 
church, — an enemy to every tender feeling, — a very murderer 
of penitence, — a teacher of pride, — a corrupter of the truth, 
and a destroyer of charity." 



310 O P H 

St Cornelius held at Rome a synod of sixty bishops, in which 
were admitted, according to the canons previously established, 
those Lapsed who sincerely implored admittance to public 
penance ; and bishops and priests in the same circumstances — 
only to the rank of laics, without the privilege of exercising any 
sacerdotal function. Novatian, who was present and obstinate- 
ly refused to communicate with such penitents, was himself ex- 
communicated. The confessors, Maximus a priest, Urbanus, 
Sidonius, Celerinus and Moses, who had been imposed upon 
by Novatian, were undeceived by the letters of St Cyprian, and 
the evidence of truth ; and were all received to communion by 
Cornelius — to the great joy of the people. (Cornel, ep 46 inter 
Cyprian, ed. Pam. 49, ed. Oxon.) The sect, notwithstanding, 
spread and was perpetuated in the East to the seventh age ; and 
in the West it subsisted till the eighth. In the general council 
of Nice held in 325, the terms on which they were to be re- 
admitted to communion, were fixed. One of their bishops 
called Acesius, disputed on the occasion with much vehemence ; 
insisting upon the impropriety of admitting notorious sinners to 
repentance. Constantine, who was present at this council, cried 
out: " Bring then a ladder for yourself, Acesius -, and mount 
up to heaven all alone." 

Novatian and his fellow-schismatic Novatus — desperate as is 
their cause — have their protestant advocates equally with most 
other enemies of the church of Rome. And indeed, it is pro- 
voking beyond all sufferance — to protestant bigotry — to observe 
its own errors reprobated and proscribed in Novatian and his 
abettors, at so early a period as the third century. Mosheim 
among others has in vain exerted all his rhetoric — aided, as usual, 
by misrepresentation, to palliate the guilt and impropriety of 
their conduct. The facts however speak a language which can- 
not well be misunderstood ; and the attentive reader is himself 
enabled to pronounce upon the merits of the cause — without the 
imputation of rash judgment. 



O 

Ophites or Serpentiniafts — a branch of Gnostics who ima- 
gined, that Wisdom had revealed itself to man — under the form 
of a serpent ; and on that account paid to it divine honors. The 
wicked spirit, as we are informed in Holy Scripture, in the guise 
of a serpent prevailed with our first parents — to eat of the fruit 
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; and after they had 
eaten, their eyes were opened in effect — to know good and 



ORI 311 

evil. Out of gratitude for this pretended service to mankind, 
these fools who deemed themselves wiser than the rest of mortals, 
worshipped the devil under his assumed serpentine appearance. 
They kept for the purpose a serpent in a cage ; and, at the time 
appointed for the commemoration of so signal a benefit to the 
human race, they opened the cage, and called to the serpent. 
Presently he issued forth ; crawled upon the table where the 
bread was placed for the intended sacrifice, and entwined him- 
self about the loaf. This the maniacs, with much reverence, 
consumed as their eucharist, and as a perfect sacrifice. Having 
then adored the serpent, they offered — through him — a hymn of 
praise to the celestial Father, and thus concluded their absurd 
mysteries. (See Origen, 1. 6. contr. Cels. p. 291 and 294, 1. 7. 
p. 358. Philastr. c. 1. Epiph. Heer. 29. Damascen. c. 37. de 
Hser.) 

Origen has handed down to us their prayer : it was an un- 
intelligible jargon, somewhat resembling the gibberish of Alchy- 
mists. From this prayer, however, we may collect, that they 
supposed the world to be governed by we know not how many 
different powers ; and that these imaginary powers had separated 
their respective world from those of other puissances ; and that 
a soul in order to return to heaven, must find means to sooth 
them, or to elude their vigilance in travelling incognito from one 
world to another. They professed the most frantic enmity 
against our blessed Redeemer — who came into this world to 
crush the serpent's head ; and of course they refused to admit 
among them any person, that did not first renounce Jesus 
Christ. Of this ridiculously impious sect one Euphrates was the 
author. Their rule of faith was — that of all reformers — Scrip- 
ture interpreted by private sense ! 

Orbibarians — were a sect that denied the mystery of the 
blessed Trinity, the resurrection, the last judgment and the sa- 
craments : they believed Jesus Christ to be a mere man, and 
said he had not suffered. (D'Argentre, Collect. Jud. 1. 1. Spond. 
ad an. 1192. Dup. n. 26.) These sectaries appeared about the 
close of the twelfth century : they were a kind of Gypsies, and 
probably derived their appellation from their vagabond and un- 
settled state of life. They seem to have been a branch of the 
Waldenses, and were condemned and excommunicated by Inno- 
cent III. (See Waldenses.) 

Orebites — were a body of Hussites who, after the death of 
Zisca, placed themselves under the conduct of a Bohemian named 
Bedricus. They called themselves Orebites from their retreating 
to a mountain which they denominated Oreb. 

Origen — surnamed the Impure to distinguish him from the fa- 



312 PAL 

mous christian Origen, — taught about the year 290, that marri- 
age was a device of the devil ; and in its place encouraged the un- 
restrained indulgence of all wickedness. His sectaries were 
every where held in execration : they subsisted, notwithstanding, 
till the fifth century. (Epiph. Haer. 63. Baron, ad an. 256.) 

Origenists — those who abused the authority of the great 
christian philosopher Origen — in support of the anti-ca&olic 
doctrines, — that Jesus Christ is only the adoptive Son of God ; 
that the human soul pre-existed its union with the body ; that 
the torments of the reprobate would not be eternal ; that the 
wicked spirits themselves would one day be delivered from the 
pains of hell, &c. Certain Egyptian monks, with some of that pro- 
fession in Palestine, adopted these errors ; maintained them with 
great obstinacy, and excited much disturbance in the church. 
This drew upon them the anathemas of the fifth general council 
held at Constantiple in 553 ; in which the person of Origen 
himself, as the supposed author of their heresy, was not 
6pared. 

The Origenists were at that time divided into two branches, 
neither of which held all the false opinions contained in the 
writings now ascribed to Origen. Those who maintained Jesus 
Christ to be no more than the adopted Son of God, held more- 
over, that at the general resurrection the apostles would be 
equalized with him, and on this account were called Isochrista. 
Those who taught the pre-existence of souls, were denominated 
Protoctistce, epithets which designated the nature of their error. 
Why the latter were also called Tettradites, or persons who 
attribute a particular virtue to the number Four, does not appear. 
See the articles Abelard, Adoptionists^ Destructionists, 
&c. 

Osiandrians — the followers of Osiander, a disciple of Luther. 
See the article Luther. 



The Pacific — were so called because, in adhering to the 
Henoticon of Zeno, they pretended — their motive was a love of 
peace. (See the article Monothelism.) The Anabaptists 
likewise, took this name ; asserting, that their new system of re- 
ligion would establish upon earth an eternal peace. 

Palamites — the same with Hesicastes. See the article 



P A U 313 

The Perfect — a usual epithet assumed by pretended re- 
formers of catholic doctrine, and by those who affected extraor- 
dinary singularity in their religious exercises. 

Pasagians — a name of Greek etymology, importing all per- 
fection in those fanatics that deemed themselves entitled to it. 

Passalorynchites — were a sect of Montanists. See the ar- 
ticle. 

Passionists and Patripassians — those who pretended that 
God the Father had suffered. See Praxeas. 

Patarini — a branch of Paulicians, so called from a street in 
Milan, where they settled in great numbers during the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries : it was given indiscriminately to almost 
all the sectaries of those epochs. 

Paulicians. See Manichees. 

Paul of Samosata — was made bishop of Antioch about the 
year 262. The famous queen Zenobia reigned at that period in 
Syria ; and her court was the rendezvous of men of talents and 
learning. Among the rest, Paul also was invited by the queen, 
who admired his eloquence, and signified a desire to hear from 
him an account of the christian religion. She was a princess 
well versed in the knowledge of history, and a great proficient in 
the study of various languages. She preferred the Jewish reli- 
gion before all others ; but could not relish the mysteries of 
Christianity. To do away her difficulties, Paul attempted to 
simplify the mysteries of our faith, and to render them intelligible 
to human reason. He told her that the three Persons of the 
most blessed Trinity — were not three Gods, but merely — so 
many attributes of the Divinity under which he had been pleased 
to reveal himself to men ; and that Jesus Christ — was not God, 
but a mortal man to whom the Divine Wisdom had communi- 
cated himself in an extraordinary manner. (Epiph. Hasr. 65. 
Hilar, de Synod, p. 136.) 

At this new doctrine the faithful took the alarm, and freely 
uttered their complaints. But Paul, who was one of the most 
haughty of mankind, and whose vanity procured hymns to be sung 
in his own praise even in the churches, was not disposed to give 
them satisfaction. 

However, seeing himself on the point of being condemned in 
a council held at Antioch in 264, he disavowed his errors, and 
thus escaped personal censure. The synod dissolved, and Paul 
renewed his heresy ; for which he was anathematized and de- 
posed in a second council, convened also at Antioch, in 270, 

r r 



314 PEL 

by the unanimous voice of the assembly. He refused to sur- 
render the episcopal residence — till the downfal of his protect- 
ress Zenobia, when, upon the application of the catholic bishop, 
the conqueror and Roman emperor, Aurelian, decreed that the 
episcopal house should be adjudged to the person, to whom the 
bishops of Rome should have addressed their letters of com- 
munion ; concluding very rationally, that if any individual re- 
fused submission to the decisions of his religious superiors, he 
ought from that instant to renounce all claim to what belonged 
to them. (Theodoret, Haeret. Fab. 1. 2, c. 8.) Upon this 
principle he accorded to the catholics — that protection which 
the laws hold out to every subject indiscriminately, — aiding him 
to drive from his premises the unjust intruder ; and to every so- 
ciety — in order to the expulsion of such members as it dislikes, 
or who refuse obedience to its rules. But he did not punish 
the refractory bishop by depriving him of the rights of a citizen ; 
nor did the catholics require it. 

The Antiochian synod having thus condemned the innovating 
doctrine, together with its author, wrote circular letters to all 
the churches of the christian world — to inform them of its pro- 
ceedings ; and they were received with general approbation. Con- 
sequently, the divinity of Christ was at that early period distinct- 
ly professed ; and the smallest deviation in the generally received 
doctrine affecting it, was deemed heretical and destructive of 
religion- The sentiments of Paul relative to this great and fun- 
damental article of Christianity, were indeed precisely the same 
with those of Theodotus in the preceding century : the same 
arguments were by him urged in their defence : they were com- 
bated in both instances with the same principles, and with simi- 
lar effect. No traces of either sect were visible towards the 
close of the fifth age ; nor had they ever been considerable for 
their numbers or respectability. However, St Lucian of An- 
tioch seems to have been deceived by the subtile reasoning, or 
rather the crafty dissimulation of his master Paul ; and, as we 
are informed by St Alexander of Alexandria, remained for 
some years separated from the communion of the catholic 
church. The Arians even boasted, that Arius had received his 
doctrine from him ; but he is justified with regard to that as- 
persion — by the panegyrics of St Chrysostom and St Jerom ; by 
the express testimony of the ancient book On the Trinity, among 
the works of St Athanasius (torn. 2, p. 279) ; by his own or- 
thodox confesson of faith in Sozomen, (1. 3, c. 5, p. 502) and 
by the authority of the church, which from his death has al-. 
ways ranked him among its illustrious martyrs. 

Pelagians — Pelagius was by birth a Briton, as we are in- 
formed by St Augustine, St Prosper and Marius Mercator $ 
* was a monk of Bangor in Wales. His name in the Jan- 



PEL 315 

guage of his country was Morgan ; which abroad he changed 
into the Greek word of the same import mxwyiog from m\ayos 
the sea. (See Usher. Antiq. c. 8.) He travelled into Italy, and 
lived a long time at Rome, where he acquired a reputation for 
virtue. Falling in with Rufinus the Syrian, a disciple of Theo- 
dosius of Mopsuestia who came to Rome about the year 400, 
he learned from him the errors which he began immediately to 
propagate — though at first in private — against the necessity of 
Divine grace. He wished first to find out — how the people were 
disposed to receive his doctrine, before he openly committed 
himself; and he sounded them by means of his disciples : the 
chief of these was Celestius — a man, according to Mercator, 
nobly born, assuming, and of a subtle ready wit. He was a Scotch- 
man and is called, somewhat vulgarly, by St Jerom — " a fellow 
bloated with Scottish gruels" or crowdies ; meaning, we suppose, 
to censure in him the want of that spirit and practice of mortifi- 
cation, becoming his profession of a monk. He had joined Pe- 
lagius at Rome ; and a little before that city was taken, passed 
with him into Africa in 409. Pelagius went soon into the East ; 
but left Celestius at Carthage, where he entered himself among 
the candidates for the priesthood. Meanwhile Paulinas, the 
deacon of Milan, who was then in Africa, preferred against him 
an accusation of heresy to Aurelius bishop of Carthage, about 
the beginning of the year 412. Aurelius assembled a council 
in that city, to which Paulinus presented two memorials — charg- 
ing Celestius with holding the following errors : that Adam 
would equally have been mortal and have died, though he had 
riot sinned ; — that his sin was prejudicial to himself alone, not to 
his posterity ; — that children are now born in the same state in 
which they would have been, if Adam had never sinned ; and 
that, if they die without receiving baptism, they nevertheless ob- 
tain eternal life. 

Celestius was heard ; and notwithstanding all his evasions, he 
confessed enough to be convicted of obstinate error ; so that he 
was finally condemned and deprived of ecclesiastical communion. 
Before the close of the same year, the great St Augustine un- 
dertook the refutation of Pelagianism. This, however, he did 
— without naming the authors of that heresy, in order the more 
easily to reclaim them. Pelagius himself he even praised — in a 
book which he wrote against his errors, and says : " As I un- 
derstand, he is a holy man very far advanced in christian virtue 
— a good man, and worthy of praise." (1. de merito Peccat. et 
Remiss, c. 1. 3.) But — after his condemnation, Orosius and 
other fathers accuse him of loving banquets and the baths, and 
of leading a life of softness and sensual indulgence. He made a 
long stay in Palestine ; and in 415, was summoned to appear 
before certain bishops at Jerusalem ; who thought fit to write to 
the pope for information in this affair, and to abide by his an- 
il r 2 



316 PEL 

swer. However, in December the same year, a council of four- 
teen bishops, among whom was John of Jerusalem, was held at 
Diospolis or Lydda ,• in which Pelagius was obliged to appear 
and give an account of his faith : two Gaulish bishops who had 
been expelled from their sees, Heros of Aries, and Lazarus of 
Aix, were his accusers. Pelagius escaped personal condemna- 
tion by subscribing to the condemnation of his errors. But 
this he did — with certain mental reservations — so as to deceive 
the synod; for, in fact, he never altered his opinions. (St 
Aug. I. de gestis Pelag. c. 20.) After this, his vanity was at its 
zenith ; and he boasted loudly of his imaginary victory ; al- 
though he durst not show the proceedings of the council, be- 
cause the people would have seen in them, that he had been 
compelled to disavow his tenets. He contented himself with 
writing to his friends ; informing them that fourteen bishops 
had approved his doctrine; which asserted — that a man may 
live without sin, and may easily keep the Divine command- 
ments, if he will. But he did not say — that he had added in 
the council these words — with the grace of God : and he super- 
added in his letter the word easily, which he had not dared to 
affirm before the synod, as St Augustine observes. The bishops 
of Africa were too well acquainted with his artifices to be im- 
posed upon ; and, assembling two councils, one at Carthage, 
the other at Milevis, in 416, they wrote against him to Pope 
Innocent, who — with commendations of their pastoral vigilance, 
in 4*17 declared Pelagius and Celestius excommunicated: for 
he perceived, that the answers of the former in the council of 
Diospolis were no way satisfactory ; as appears from the episto- 
lary correspondence between him and St Augustine upon this 
affair. Pelagius wrote to Rome in his own justification ; and 
Celestius, who had got himself ordained priest at Ephesus, went 
thither in person, where Zozimus had succeeded Innocent in 
the papal chair in March 417. To him Celestius presented a 
confession of faith, in which he was very explicit on the first 
articles of the creed, and professed that — if in some of his letters 
he had advanced any thing erroneous, he submitted it to his 
judgment, and begged to be set right. Pope Zozimus had so 
much regard to his pretended submission, that he wrote in his 
favor to the African prelates ; though he would not take off the 
excommunication which they had pronounced against Celestius, 
but deferred passing sentence personally for two months. In 
the mean time St Aurelius assembled in 418, a council at Car- 
thage, of two hundred and fourteen bishops ; which renewed the 
sentence of excommunication against Celestius, and declared its 
firm adherence to the decree of pope Innocent. 

Zozimus having received their letters of information, condemn- 
ed the Pelagians, and cited Celestius to appear again. The 
latter secretly withdrew from Rome, and returned into the East ; 



PEL 317 

thus demonstrating the insincerity of his late professions of sub- 
mission, and his pretended wishes to he set right. Upon this 
Zozimus published a solemn sentence of excommunication against 
both Pelagius and Celestius, and sent it into Africa, and to all 
the principal churches of the East. Eighteen Italian bishops 
refusing to subscribe the letter and sentence of pope Zozimus, 
were deposed. The most learned of these, as well as the most 
obstinate, was Julian of Eclanum in Campania, which see is now 
removed to Avellino. His writings show him to have been one 
of the most self-conceited of human beings ; full of pride and a 
contempt of all other men, but of quick parts and abundance of 
ready wit. 

The chief errors of Pelagianism, as is plain from what has been 
said above, regard original sin and divine grace : the former 
they denied, with the necessity of the latter. They also affirmed 
that a man — independently of grace — could live entirety exempt 
from sin ; and they extolled the virtues of the heathens. The con- 
trary truths of the catholic faith St Augustine maintained with 
invincible force ; and he proved from the clearest passages of 
Holy Scripture, that all men are sinners, and bound to pray for 
the pardon of their sins : for, without an extraordinary grace, 
(such as was given to the Virgin Mary) even saints offend by 
small transgressions of a faulty inadvertence ; against which 
they watch, and for which they live in daily compunction. He 
also proves, that the virtues of heathens are often counterfeit ; 
for instance, — whenever they are influenced with motives of vain 
glory, or other vicious qualities : they are true moral virtues, and 
may deserve some temporary recompence if they spring purely 
from principles of moral honesty. But no virtue can be merito- 
rious of eternal life, which is not animated by divine charity, and 
which is not produced by a supernatural gift of grace. He teaches, 
that the divine grace obtained for us by our blessed Redeemer, 
works in us the consent of our will to all virtue, though not with- 
out our free concurrence ; so that all the good that can be in us, 
is to be attributed to the Creator ; and no one ought to boast of 
his good works by contrasting them with those of other men. 
But God cannot be the author of evil : this arises entirely from 
the malice and defect of rectitude in the free will of the creature; 
to whom nothing remains — without the Divine concurrence — 
but the wretched power of self-depravation and corruption, or at 
most, of doing that from self love, which ought to be done for 
God alone. It cannot — without grace — do any action, of which 
God is the supernatural end, nor of which, by consequence, He 
will be the final recompence. 

Through the corruption of human nature by sin, pride being 
become the darling passion of our heart, men are born with a 
propensity to Pelagianism, or principles which flatter an opinion 
of our own strength, merit and self sufficiency. We cannot 



31S PEL 

therefore be surprised, that this heresy found advocates; rather, 
it is wonderful it should have had no more. The wound would 
certainly have been much deeper and more severely felt by the 
church of God, had not Divine Providence raised up so eminent 
a doctor of his grace, as was St Augustine, to be a bulwark for 
the defence of the truth ; and to him is the church indebted, as 
to the chief instrument of God in overthrowing this heresy. 

From its ashes sprang Semi-Pelagianism, the authors of 
which were certain priests, bishops and monks in Gaul, — at Le- 
rins, and in other parts in the vicinity of Marseilles. St Prosper 
and Hilarius, two zealous and learned laymen, informed St 
Augustine by letter in 429, that these persons expressed the ut- 
most admiration for all his other actions and words ; but took of- 
fence at his doctrine of grace, as if it destroyed free-will in man. 
They taught, that the beginning of faith, and the first desire of 
virtue, are from the creature, and move God to bestow that 
grace which is necessary for men to execute and accomplish 
good works. They said, that as to children who died without 
baptism, and those infidels to whom the faith is never preached, 
the reason of their misfortune is — that God foresees they would 
not make a good use of longer life, or of the gospel ; and that 
he on this account deprives them of those graces. St Augustine 
wrote two books against this error ; one entitled On the Predes- 
tination of the Saints ; the other On the Gift of Perseverance ,• 
showing that the authors of this doctrine did not recede from the 
great principle of Pelagianism, and that, to ascribe to the crea- 
ture the beginnings of virtue, is in reality, to give the whole to it 
and not to God. He treats the Semi- Pelagians as brethren, be- 
cause they erred without obstinacy ; and their error had not 
been yet condemned by any express definition of the church. 
The principal persons who espoused it, seem to have been — 
Cassian at Marseilles, and certain monks of Lerins. It was con- 
demned in the second council of Orange under St Caesarius in 
529, confirmed by pope Boniface II. in a letter to that saint. 

The famous Vincent of Lerins has been falsely classed by 
some in the list of Semi-Pelagians. There were two other Vin- 
cents living at Marseilles at that very time ; and, very possibly, 
there were many others of the same name, one of whom may 
have been a Semi- Pelagian, whence the mistake in all appear- 
ance originated. At all events, it is certain, that Vincent of 
Lerins condemned Semi-Pelagianism with great warmth, and 
highly extolled the letter of pope Celestine to the bishops of 
Gaul. To guard the faithful against the dangerous snares spread 
on every side in order to seduce them, and to open the eyes of 
those already seduced by the false and perplexing glosses of subtle 
refiners, St Vincent, with great clearness and force of reason- 
ing, wrote a book in the year 434, which he entitled A Commone- 
iory against Heretics in general. The saint here lays down as a 



PER 319 

rule and fundamental principle in which he found by a diligent 
enquiry — all catholic pastors, and the ancient fathers, to agree ; — 
that such doctrine is truly catholic, as hath been believed — in 
all places — at all times — and by all the faithful. (Cone. c. 3.) 
By this test of universality, antiquity and consent, he says, all 
controverted points in belief must be tried. He shews that — 
while Novatian, Donatus, Arius, Pelagius, &c. expound the 
Divine oracles different ways, — to avoid confusion and the per- 
plexity of errors, we must interpret the Holy Scriptures by the 
tradition of the catholic church, as the clue to conduct us in the 
truth : for this tradition derived from the apostles, manifests the 
true meaning of the Holy Scriptures ; and all novelty in faith is 
a certain mark of heresy. He adds, that new teachers who have 
made bold with one article of faith, will proceed to others; and 
what will be the consequence of this reforming of religion, but 
only, that these refiners will never have done reforming till they 
have reformed it quite away, (c. 29.) Of this there cannot be a 
more striking exemplification than the conduct of our modern 
innovators, 

St Vincent elegantly expatiates on the Divine charge given 
to the church, to maintain inviolate the depositum of faith, 
(c. 1. 27, p. 30.) He observes that, in the works of Paul of 
Samosata, Priscillian, Eunomius, Jovinian and other heretics, 
(and we may include in the list — those of the present day) almost 
every page is painted, and overcharged with scripture texts. 
But in this, he says, they are like those poisoners or quacks, 
who put oft' their destructive potions under the inscriptions of 
good drugs, and under the title of infallible cures. They imi- 
tate the Father of Lies, who quoted scripture against the Son 
of God. (c. 31, 32.) If a doubt arise in interpreting the sense 
of scripture in any point of faith, we must summon in the 
holy fathers, who have lived and died in the faith and commu- 
nion of the catholic church ; and by this test we shall prove the 
false doctrine to be novel ; for that alone we must look upon as 
indubitably certain and unalterable, which all or the major part 
of these fathers have delivered, like the harmonious consent of 
a general council. But if any one among them, be he ever so 
holy, ever so learned, holds any thing besides, or in opposition 
to the rest, it is to be placed in the rank of singular opinions, 
and never to be deemed the public general authoritative doctrine 
of the church, (c. 33.) Can any thing be more rational than 
these principles ; more scriptural, or equally secure ? 

Pereans — the followers of one Euphrates of Pera, in Cilicia, 
who pretended there were three fathers, three Sons, and three 
Holy Ghosts. To these sectaries the symbol termed the Atha- 
nasian creed seems to allude in the versicle which sets forth — that 
there is but one Father, not three Fathers ; one Son, not three 



520 P H O 

Sons ; one Holy Ghost, and not three. (Theodoret, Haeret. Fab. 
L 1, c. 18, PhiJast.) 

Petrobrusians — took their name from Peter Bruys, a na- 
tive of Dauphine. He was yet young when he commenced re- 
former, and began by a very austere and singular method of life to 
gain a reputation, though the writers of that age accuse him of 
disguising most wicked actions, and corrupt morals — under a 
hypocritical garb. He went very meanly clad ; and his or- 
dinary retreats were the cottages of peasants. Having a ready 
tongue, he first gained attention by declaiming against the 
riches, and the luxury of the clergy; and afterwards boldly 
sowed his errors in Provence, Languedoc and Gascony. PeteV 
the Venerable, abbot of Cluni, who wrote against them, re- 
duces them to five: he denied the validity of infant bap- 
tism ; condemned the use of churches and altars, and, wher- 
ever his rabble was sufficiently strong, pulled them down : rejected 
the mass ; denied that alms and prayers avail the dead, and for- 
bade the singing of the Divine praises in churches : reprobated 
the veneration of crosses ; broke them in pieces, and made bon- 
fires of the wood, on which he boiled large pots of broth and 
meat, to regale his hungry followers and vagabond adherents. 
Abelard (Introduct. ad Theol. p. 1086) and other contemporary 
writers give the same account of his tenets. He passed from 
province to province, attended by a lawless banditti — pillaging 
the churches, demolishing crosses, and destroying the sacred 
altars, as they advanced. The profanation of places of worship, 
and the re-baptising of their deluded proselytes — were the fa- 
vorite occupations of these frantic hypocrites. At length, how- 
ever, their infuriated author was arrested and condemned for 
his seditious conduct to be hanged, and his body burnt. 

Protestants have made a ho]y martyr of this enthusiast, and 
have ranked him in the class of sanctified reformers. He has 
indeed as good a right as his fellows of more modern date, to 
the boasted title. But it is rather singular that those should 
claim him for their precursor, who are the avowed enemies of the 
Anabaptist system. To what inconsistencies are people often 
driven, when they wish to trace the pretended succession of their 
religion-— through the medium of such characters as was Peter 
Bruys ! (See the article Henry Bruys.) 

Photinians — the adherents of Photinus, a native of Galatia, 
and disciple of Marcellus of Ancyra. Marcellus had zealously 
opposed, together with St Athanasius, the Arian system, and 
had written against that faction a book entitled — On the Sub- 
mission of Jesus Christ, in which were some expressions favora- 
ble to Sabellianism. He was accordingly accused of holding the 
opinions of Sabellius, and condemned by an Arian council in 



PRE 321 

336. A sentence of banishment was pronounced against him 
by the emperor ; and he withdrew to Rome. Pope Julius ad- 
mitted him to communion, and pronounced him innocent of 
the charge alleged against him, in a council held in that city 
upon the occasion. Photinus, however, imagined that the sen- 
timents of Marcellus really inclined to Sabellianism, and him- 
self adopted the real or, in all probability, only the supposed 
principles of his former master. He maintained with Sabellius, 
that the Word was a mere attribute ; and denied his hypostatic 
union with the humanity. (Epiph. Haer. p. 71. Vincent. Lyrin. 
Commonit. c. 16. Soz. 1. 4, c. 6, &c.) 

The errors of Photinus were immediately condemned by the 
Oriental bishops, in a council at Antioch in 345 ; and by the 
Western prelates in 346. He propagated his heresy in Illyria ; 
but his sectaries were not numerous, and did not long survive 
their author. See Sabellians, Noetians, Praxeans and 
Paul of Samosata. 

Photius. See Greeks. 

Praxeans — had for their author one Praxeas a Phrygian, 
who coming to Rome under pope Victor towards the close of the 
second century, informed him of the errors of Montanus. and 
afterwards began himself to sow there a new heresy ; maintain- 
ing but one person in God, and attributing crucifixion to the 
Father as well as to the Son ; whence his followers were called 
Patripassians. Tertullian has refuted this error with great 
energy and solidity of argument. He opposes to the Praxean 
heresy the doctrine of the universal church, which had condemn- 
ed its author, and with which, says he, we believe in one only 
God, at the same time that we profess our belief in the Divine 
Word his only Son, who proceeds from Him, and by whom all 
things were created ; and that without Him nothing actually 
exists ; that this Divine W T ord was sent down from heaven by 
the Father, and took flesh of the Virgin ; — God and man at the 
same time, son of man and Son of God: — that he was surnamed 
Jesus Christ ; and that he suffered death, and was buried : such, 
continues he, is the faith which the church enforces, and has 
uniformly professed since the commencement of Christianity. 
Clerk and some other modern Arians and Socinians have, by 
forced constructions and unnatural hypotheses, in vain endea- 
voured to render doubtful the opinions of Tertullian with re- 
gard to the divinity of the. Son of God. 

Predestinarians — are all those — of whatever sect— *that 
blasphemously affirm all reprobates to have been doomed by 
Almighty God from all eternity to sin and hell — without the 
power of avoiding either. This most impious heresy was an- 

s s 



§m pre 

ciently condemned by the councils of Aries and Lyons — about 
the close of the fifth century. Towards the middle of the ninth, 
it was renewed by a wandering monk of the diocese of Soissons, 
named Gotescalcus. Rabanus Maurus archbishop of Mentz, 
one of the most learned and holy men of that age, condemned 
his errors in a synod held in that city in 848, and sent him to 
his own metropolitan Hincmar archbishop of Rheims, a pre- 
late also, of great learning and abilities. By him and Wenilo, 
archbishop of Sens, and several other prelates, he was again 
examined in a synod held at Quercy on the Oise, in 849. 
Gotescalc proving refractory, was degraded from the priesthood, 
and closely confined in the abbey of Hautvilliers, in the diocese 
of Hincmar. However, by the advice of St Prudentius, whom 
Hincmar consulted upon the occasion, he was not deprived of 
lay-communion, till Hincmar found his obstinacy incorrigible ; 
and he issued against him a sentence of excommunication ; under 
which this unhappy author of much scandal and disturbance died, 
after twenty-one years of rigorous confinement, fn 870. With 
a variety of other exploded heresies, our modern reformers, Lu- 
ther, Calvin, Beza and a countless tribe of their deluded ad- 
herents,, have revived Predestinarianism — not to speak of the 
infidel Mahometans, who have always held the absurd and im- 
pious doctrines of absolute fatality. Bishop Usher too, with 
Jansenius and Mauguin, is an advocate for Predestinarianism. 
Their vindication of Gotescalc is confuted by the Cardinal de 
Laurea, (Opusc. 1. c. 7) Nat. Alexander, Honoratus of St 
Mary, and Tournely, in accurate dissertations on that subject. 
The Divine predestination of the elect is an article of catholic 
faith ; but such a grace and predestination as destroy free-will 
in the creature, are a monstrous heresy. In disputing, how- 
ever, upon either of these subjects, we walk upon the brink 
of two precipices ; and without the utmost caution it is easy to 
take a false step, and to fall headlong into an abyss. Hence it 
happened that the adversaries of Gotescalc were thought by 
some to lean too much the other way ; and this gave occasion to 
much wrangling and mutual crimination — between parties who 
agreed in sentiment, but for some time could not satisfy each 
other of their orthodoxy. It was the case of Hincmar, Raba- 
nus Maurus, and St Prudentius, on the one side; and Ra- 
tramnus, Amolon, St Remigius, &c. on the other; though 
all alike censured the errors of Gotescalcus, as well as the oppo- 
site doctrines of Pelagius. 

Presbyterians — they that assert the government of the 
church to belong — not to bishops, but to Presbyters or ruling El- 
ders ; and that there is no order in the church of divine institu- 
tion superior to that of a Presbyter ; who therefore hath power 
to ordain ministers by fasting, prayer and imposition of hands. 



PRI 32S 

They have three courts— -1 . That composed of the minister of 
each parish, with his elders, and the congregation. — 2. That of 
the Presbytery ; consisting of a great number of ministers and 
elders, associated for governing particular churches. — 3. The 
highest court is a synod, which, they hold, may be provincial, 
national, or oecumenical ; and allow of appeals from the lesser 
to the greater. They baptise by sprinkling ; and their common 
worship consists in extemporary prayer, preaching and singing 
of psalms. (See Bibliotheca Technologica, p. 34.) 

Rigid Calvinism was first introduced into Scotland in the 
reign of queen Elizabeth, by John Knox and his fellow gospel- 
lers on their return from Geneva ; and was some time afterwards 
improved into its present form, designated under the gene- 
ral denomination of the Kirk of Scotland. The Presbyterians 
however are not confined within the limits of that country ; but 
have established themselves also in the north of Ireland, in some 
of the North American states, and in England — where under 
the name of Puritans, Independents, &c. they overturned the 
existing government, and raised their general Oliver Cromwell 
to arbitrary power under the title of Protector. Since the re- 
storation they have been here gradually on the decline, and at 
the present day form but an inconsiderable part of our English 
protestant Dissenters. (See the article Calvinists; also that of 
Aerius, under which we have refuted their doctrine respecting 
the equality of order and jurisdiction in the ecclesiastical hier-* 
archy, &c.) 

Priscillianists — an infamous sect of the fourth age, who 
renewed many errors of Simon Magus, the Gnostics, and the 
Manichees ; to which they added their favourite tenet of dissi- 
mulation and lying ; it being an avowed principle with them 
rather to commit perjury itself, than to reveal the abominable 
tenets of their sect. « Swear, forswear thyself, said they, in order to 
conceal thy sentiments.' One Mark, a Manichee, coming from 
Memphis in Egypt into Spain, spread the poison of his errors 
in Galicia. His first disciple was a lady of distinction, who 
brought over to the party a rhetorician named Elpidius. These 
two persons taught Priscillian, who gave name to the sect. He 
was rich, and well born ; had fine parts ; was eloquent, curious 
and inquisitive ; had read much, and acquired a large 
stock of profane learning. His vanity kept pace with his know- 
ledge ; and he was of a hot and restless temper. This man 
tainted with his errors several persons of quality, and a great 
number of the common people, especially females ; and his ob- 
liging carriage and affected gravity gained him much esteem. 

With Sabellius — the Priscillianists confounded the three Divine 
Persons in the Trinity ; said that Christ is the only-begotten 
Son of God — in as much only, as he was the only Son of Mary $ 

S s2 



324 P R I 

for that God had many other sons. They taught that Christ 
assumed our human nature, was born and suffered merely in 
appearance ; that every human soul is a portion of the 
Divine substance, and pre-exists the state to which it is con- 
demned in the body : that the devil, or author of evil, was not 
created by Almighty God, but sprang from darkness and the 
chaos, and is evil by his own nature. Marriages they con- 
demned and dissolved, and in lieu of matrimony authorised ob- 
scenities ; qualifying their adultresses and harlots with the soft 
epithet of adoptive sisters. They did not reject the Old Testa- 
ment, but explained it allegorically. To the books of the New 
Testament they, added false acts — of St Thomas, St Andrew, 
and St John ; and two most blasphemous books, the one written 
by Priscillian, called Memoria Apostolorum ; the other called 
Libra, or the Pound, because it consisted of twelve questions or 
blasphemies. This book they ascribed to one Dictinius. To 
conceal their doctrine, they were ready, if necessary, to abjure 
even Priscillian himself — together with their own tenets, as we 
are assured by St Augustine. (Ep. 237, n. 3, &c. See also St 
Leo's Letter to Turibius, 15. ed. Qnesnell, p. 93. The first 
council of Toledo, Cone. T. 2, p. 228 ; the council of Braga, 
in 563, T. 5, p. 36. &c.) 

Two bishops named Instantius and Salvianus were seduced 
by Priscillian ; Higinus of Cordova their neighbour at first op- 
posed, but afterwards joined them. The two former, with EI- 
pidius and Priscillian laymen, were condemned in the council of 
Saragossa — subscribed by twelve bishops in 381. The execu- 
tion of the sentence was committed to Ithacius bishop of Ossobona 
(formerly an episcopal see in Lusitania, now called Estombar in 
Algarves) who was ordered by the council to excommunicate 
Higinus also. Ithacius is much commended by some writers for 
his eloquence ; but is charged by Sulpicius Severus with the odi- 
ous vices of gluttony, adulation, haughtiness and revenge. In- 
stantius and Salvian, after their condemnation, proceeded to or- 
dain Priscillian bishop of Avila. Ithacius and Idacius his col- 
league, exasperated the sect by the violenc/e of their proceedings ; 
and, through their procurement, the emperor Gratian issued an 
order for the banishment of the Priscillianists. Instantius, Sal- 
vian and Priscillian applied to pope Damasus for redress, and 
perverted many in Aqutiain on their way to Rome ; particularly 
one Euchrocia, wife of Delphidius a famous poet and orator, and 
her daughter Procula, whom Priscillian is said to have debauched. 
Pope Damasus refused to see them, and Salvian dying at Rome, 
the other two repaired to Milan, and were rejected in like manner 
by St Ambrose. But they found means by dint of bribery and 
court intrigue to obtain of Gratian their re- establishment in their 
episcopal sees. Ithacius remained at Triers till Maximus be- 
came master of Spain; who listened to his complaints, and 



PRO 325 

caused Instantius and Priscillian to appear before a council at 
Bourdeaux. Instantius was condemned; but Priscillian ap- 
pealed to Maximus ; and they were both sent to him at Triers 
by the connivance of the synod. Doubtless, they were afraid of 
offending this new master should they have rejected the undue 
appeal. Maximus committed the cause of the Priscillianists to 
Evodius, whom he had made prefect of the prastorium. This 
severe judge convicted Priscillian of several crimes by his own 
confession ; among others, for instance, of holding nocturnal 
assemblies with lewd women ; of praying naked, and other such 
scandalous immoralities. Ithacius was the accuser, and was even 
present when Priscillian was put to the torture : though after 
this he withdrew, and did not assist at their condemnation to 
death. Evodius laid the whole proceeding before Maximus, 
who declared Priscillian and his accomplices worthy of death. 
The sentence was accordingly pronounced ; and Priscillian, his 
two clerks named Felicissimus and Armenius, Latrocinius a lay- 
man, and the adulteress Euchrocia, lost their heads ; and many 
others were variously punished for the same cause. Ithacius 
and his associate bishops were patronised by the emperor ; so 
that several who highly disapproved their conduct, durst not 
openly condem them. However, neither St Ambrose nor St 
Martin would communicate with Ithacius, or those bishops who 
held communion with him. Nor can we be surprised at this re- 
fusal — when we consider how much the church abhors the shed- 
ding of the blood — even of criminals, and never suffers any of 
her clergy to be party in such cases. 

After the defeat of Maximus by Theodosius in 338 or 339, 
Ithacius was brought to a trial, and having been convicted of se- 
ditious and irregular behaviour, he closed his life in exile, and 
under the severest censures of the church. The wretched Pris- 
cillian and his fellow miscreants were honored by their deluded 
followers in Spain as martyrs ; and their bones were conveyed 
thither, as so many precious relics. The sect was repressed by 
the severe laws of Honorius in 407 and 408, and by the zeal of 
the holy pope St Leo, and of St Turibius, bishop of Astorga 
in 447 ; and quite annihilated in Spain by the invasion of the 
Moors, (see Tillemont, Orsi, &c.) although they still subsisted in 
some other parts of Christendom ; as is evident from a council 
held against them at Prague in the sixth century. (Collect. 
Cone.) See the Life of St Martin of Tours by the learned Al- 
ban Butler, T. 11, p. 215, &c. ; — the article Manichees, &c. 

Proclians — were Montanists who received their name from 
a certain Proclus, a leading man of that sect: see the article. 

Prodianites otherwise Hermians : see that article. 



326 PRO 

Ptolomeans — the followers of Ptolomy a disciple of Valen- 
tinus, who maintained with him the doctrine of a Being sove- 
reignly perfect ; but rejected his system of the origin of the 
world and of the Jewish dispensation. He taught, that the 
Jewish, and the evangelical law, were derived from the good 
Principle, and not the work of two hostile divinities ; and that 
the world was not the production of the Supreme Being; other- 
wise, in his ideas, there could have been no evil. Hence he 
concluded, that the Creator was a good Principle residing in the 
centre of the universe, which he had created, and in which he 
produced all possible good ; but that in this same world there 
existed also, an unjust and evil Principle which was united to 
matter, and was the author of evil. It was to prevent the con- 
sequences of His inbred malice, that the Creator had sent down 
amongst us his divine Son. But this wise reasoner has not 
thought fit to let us know — how his supposed evil Principle which 
had not from itself an independent existence, came into existence 
at all, if all things received their being from one Principle sove- 
reignly perfect ! 

Protestants — a name first given to the adherents of Luther, 
because in the year 1529 they protested against a decree of the 
emperor and the diet of Spire, and appealed to a general coun- 
cil. At their head appeared six princes of the empire, namely : 
John, elector of Saxony; George, elector of Brandenbourg ; 
Ernest and Francis, dukes of Lunenbourgh ; Philip, landgrave 
of Hesse, and the prince of Anhalt. They were seconded by 
thirteen imperial cities. This league, however, was formed 
rather with a view to set bounds to the authority of the emperor, 
than in opposition to the catholic religion. The appellation of 
protestants was likewise given to the disciples of Calvin in France, 
and was extended to the various branches of the reformed, whe- 
ther Lutherans or Calvinists ; — the Church-of-England-men, or 
the numerous sects into which they have since divided. We 
have spoken of each under their respective articles ; we will here 
examine their general claim to orthodoxy. 

If they be asked — where was their religion before Luther and 
Calvin were in being, they will answer — in the Bible. It must 
then have lain there very close and snug ; since for fifteen slow- 
revolving centuries none had ever discovered it, before these sa- 
gacious gentlemen dragged it into light. You are much de- 
ceived, they will exclaim: the Manichees, like ourselves, dis- 
covered in scripture the idolatry of paying religious honors to 
the martyrs ; Vigilantius, the abuse of venerating their relics ; 
Aerius, that of praying for the dead ; Jovinian, the superstition 
of vowing a state of virginity. Berengarius, as well as our- 
selves, saw clearly in the gospel, that the dogma of transubstan- 
tiation was absurd ; the Albigenses, that the pretended sacra- 



PRO 327 

Hients of the church of Rome, were but empty ceremonies ; the 
Valdenses and others — that priests and bishops differ not in 
authority or character, from simple laics, &c. Consequently, 
we can prove our belief to have been always professed, either in 
the whole, or at least in part, by some or other society of chris- 
tians ; and that it is wrongfully accused of innovation. 

Behold here a tradition with a witness — the most pure and 
respectable that ever was adduced ! Ever to be sought for 
without the pale of the church, it has for its guarantees none 
but sectaries anathematized for their impious tenets. But why 
not grace the honourable pedigree with the additional suffrage 
of the Gnostics, the Marcionites, the Arians, the Nestorians, 
the Pelagians, Eutychians, and the Lord knows how many 
other equally creditable progenitors ? All alike have seen in 
holy scripture their errors and their absurdities ; they maintain- 
ed as well as protestants, that this Divine book was a sufficient 
rule of faith. But by what peculiar evidence are protesta?its 
convinced, that themselves recognise in holy writ more certainly 
than all these eminent theologists of old, those articles of belief 
in which they think proper to dissent from them ? To point 
out pretended witnesses of the truth, and never fully to agree 
with their testimony ; to adopt their sentiments on some parti- 
cular point, and reject them in every other instance, is not the 
way to add much weight to their authority. A creed thus made 
up of patch-work, and of materials purloined from ancient 
heretics, a multitude of whom were no longer christians, nor 
worshippers of Jesus Christ, can bear but a very scanty resem- 
blance with the doctrine of that Divine master. 

If the Bible in fact contained — all the errors which fanatics 
of every age have pretended to deduce from it, it would be the 
most pernicious book in existence : nor would the Deists, on 
this supposition, be wrong in affirming it to be a bone of con- 
tention, destined to set all mankind at variance. However, as 
protestants will have the privilege of giving it what sense they 
please, they certainly should not refuse the same prerogative to 
other sects : hence all possible errors and heresies, evidently are 
justified by the protestant rule of faith — the private interpreta- 
tion of scripture. But, we should likewise wish to know — why 
the catholic church is not also allowed the privilege, in her turn, 
of discovering from holy scripture, that all who relinquish her 
communion, pervert the sense of that Divine book, which itself 
was entrusted to her exclusive charge by the apostles her origi- 
nal founders ? St Peter admonishes us, that the sense of scrip- 
ture may be perverted by the ignorant and unstable, to their 
own destruction, ep. 2, c. 3, 16 ; and how does this stand with 
the protestant maxim, that all are capable of interpreting it for 
themselves ? Tertullian informs all sectaries, that scripture is 
the exclusive property of the true church, to which aliens can 



328 PUR 

have no just pretensions. (Prasscrip. c. 37.) It concerns 
the protestants to prove, that this exclusion does not affect them- 
selves. 

Puccianites — are those who adhere to the doctrine of one 
Puccius, who pretended that Jesus Christ, by his death, had sa- 
tisfied in such manner for all mankind, that whoever should have 
a natural knowledge of God, although they had no faith in Jesus 
Christ, would be saved. This doctrine he maintained in a trea- 
tise which he dedicated to pope Clement VIII. in the year 1592 — 
with the following title : De Chrisli Salvatoris efficacitate in om- 
nibus et singulis hominibus, quatenus homines sunt, assertio Catho- 
lica cequitatis Divince et humance consentanea, universe Scripture? 
S. et PP. consensu, spiritu discretionis probata, adversus sckolas 
asserentes quidem sufficientiam Servatoris Christi, sed negantes 
ejus salutarem efficaciam in singulis, ad summum Pontificem Cle- 
mentem Octavum. (Stockman. Lexic. Puccianiste.) 

Rhetorius in the fourth age had held nearly the same opinion, 
and Zuinglius in the fifteenth. It may, very possibly, be an er- 
ror of the heart ; but it is formally opposed to the words of Jesus 
Christ himself, who says, that no man cometh to the Father but 
through Him, (John xiv. 6.) and again, — I pray not for the 
world, but for them whom thou hast given me . . . and for them 
also, who through their word shall believe in me, (c. xvii. 9, 20.) 

Puritans — were a sect of rigid Calvinists in England, who 
affected to aspire after greater perfection, than they acknowledged 
to be attainable in the church established by queen Elizabeth ; 
and quarrelled with the popish ceremonies, episcopacy, and 
other rites, — still retained to the intolerable scandal of these 
more precise and pharisaical gospellers. The contest between 
them and the established church terminated in the eventual sub- 
version of the existing government, and of the throne itself — by 
the murder of their lawful sovereign Charles I. They had be- 
gun early to divide into various classes — of Brownists ; Separa- 
tists ; Robinsonians, and the numerous sects of Independents. 
Even the most ignorant, and the very dregs of the populace be- 
came preachers, as is now the case among Methodists and 
Quakers ; and the gaping mob was all credulity and attention. 
The pulpits every where were filled with what the parliament 
termed " a godly, faithful, painful, gospel-preaching ministry," 
who railed against the alleged malignancy, treachery, barbarity, 
superstition, popery and idolatry of their predecessors in office, 
with as little decency or regard for truth, as the catholics had 
before experienced in the common anniversary discourses on the 
fifth of November. They did not, however, long retain their 
power ; for Cromwell growing tired of their yoke, put himself at 
the head of those, who were for a more perfect equality and inde- 



PUR 329 

pendency in church affairs, than the Independents themselves. 
His Highness in person sometimes mounted the pulpit, and new 
modelled the Scriptures as he had modelled the laws, to the views 
of his own ambition. In the end, however, when this usurper 
found himself assailed with the extravagances of the Quakers of 
those times, and the anarchical ravings of the Fifth-monarchy- 
men, who would admit of no other ruler but Christ himself; and 
of other frantic enthusiasts each of whom — with his Bible in his 
hand — was ready to demonstrate his own senseless system to be 
the only one therein revealed, he of course felt the fatal conse- 
quences of that unlimited right of interpreting the Scripture, 
which he had hitherto supported. Dr Featly, an eminent divine 
quoted by Grey, complains heavily of the licentiousness in ques- 
tion. " There is not, says he, the meanest artizan or the most il- 
literate day-labourer, but holds himself sufficient to be a master- 
builder in the church of Christ. I wonder that our doors and 
walls do not sweat when such notices as these are affixed to 
them : — On such a day such a brewer's clerk exerciseth, such a 
tailor expoundeth, such a waterman teacheth" So fond were the 
Common soldiers of shewing their gifts this way, that they de- 
clared that " if they might not preachy they would not fight ." One 
of these military preachers went into the church of Walton upon 
Thames with a lanthorn and five candles ; — declaring to the 
people that he had a message from God, which they must re- 
ceive upon pain of damnation. He first announced — that the 
Sabbath was abolished, and put out one light ; next, that tythes 
also were abolished, and put out the second light. He then 
proceeded to declare that church ministers and every species of 
magistracy were abolished, — putting out his third and fourth 
lights ; and lastly, that the Bible itself was abolished ; which he 
burnt with his fifth light, and then extinguished it. See Exam, 
of Neal, vol. iv. pp. 61, 62. The same author furnishes the 
most extraordinary instances that can be conceived — of the pre- 
vailing blasphemies, impieties, crimes and follies proceeding from 
the unrestrained licence which every one then claimed, of expound- 
ing the Scriptures for himself; though not greater than what hap- 
pened at the commencement of the reformation in Germany and 
Holland. Salmon, a preacher at Coventry, taught his people to 
curse and swear, and commit whoredom. At Dover a woman 
cut off her child's head, pretending a special command from 
God — like Abraham. Another woman was condemned at York 
in March, 1647, for crucifying her mother, &c. Other extrava- 

fances were as laughable as these were awful. Some have 
illed their cats for catching mice on a Sunday, but scrupulously 
deferred the execution till Monday, for fear of incurring similar 
guilt ; nay, one Precisian, as he is called, knocked out the head 
of his barrel of beer for working on the Sabbath day ! An in* 

t t 



SS© QUA 

stance of the former kind gave occasion to the following ludi- 
crous verses ; 

Veni Banbury, O profanum ! 
Ubi vidi Puritanum 
Felem facientem furem, 
Quia Sabbato stravit raurem." 

Ibid. pp. 92, 101. 

They may be very literally, though not very poetically, ren- 
dered thus : — 

Arrived at Banbury, O profane ! 
I there beheld a Puritan 
In pious rage hang up Tom Cat, 
For catching on Lord's Day a rat. 

See the above in Mr Milner's vii. Letter to Dr Sturges. 
Since the epoch alluded to, the Puritans and Independents 
have gradually dwindled into non-existence at this period, and 
their very name is a memorandum of reproach with all sober- 
minded christians. See Luther, and the immediate effects of 
what is called the reformation under that article ; Anabaptists, 
&c. 



Q 

Quakers — the followers of George Fox. This man, by 
profession a shoemaker, in the reign of Charles the First began 
to hold forth — against the established clergy, — against the luxu- 
ry of the age, — the lawfulness of war, of oaths, of taxes, &c. 
At a time when England was involved alike in civil and religi- 
ous anarchy, it is natural to expect he would find adherents ; 
and he quickly became the author of a sect. Taking in the 
strictest literal sense all the moral precepts and the councils of 
the gospel, he maintained it absolutely unlawful — to take an 
oath, to enter into law-suits, to bear arms, engage in war, &c. 
He taught that all mankind are equal ; that exterior marks of 
respect, such as moving the hat, bowing, and the like civilities, 
must be laid aside as idle ceremonies — tending only to flatter 
pride in persons of high rank, and contrary to christian simpli- 
city and candor : he therefore ordered ail his followers to address 
even the most exalted in dignity — with the familiar pronoun 
Thou, and never compliment them with their usual titles of — 
Your Lordship, Your Worship, Your Majesty, and so on. He 
said that God gives to every man an interior light, sufficient to 



QUA sgi 

conduct him to eternal life — without the aid of priests or any 
ministers of religion ; and that each individual — man or woman 
— is qualified and authorised to instruct and preach, as soon as 
they shall feel themselves inspired so to do — in formal opposition 
to St Paul, who forbids women to open their mouths in the as- 
semblies of the faithful. Fox also teaches, that the doing of 
good, and avoiding of evil, are alone sufficient to secure our sal- 
vation — without either sacraments, the use of ceremonies, or of 
any exterior worship at all ; and that modesty and temperance 
are the most essential virtues of a christian, which require the re- 
trenchment of every superfluity in dress — of buttons, for instance, 
and ribbons, and lace in the ornaments of the sex, &c. 

One of the first apostles of Quakerism — was William Penn, 
only son of the vice-admiral of that name ; a young man of a 
pleasing aspect, joined with great parts and natural eloquence. 
This youth became fellow- preacher with George Fox j and with 
him he undertook a mission into Holland and Germany. In Hol- 
land they succeeded tolerably well in forming some few disciples, 
known by the name of Prophets, or Prophesiers. Their success 
in Germany was less considerable. In England, however, the 
spiritual conquests of Fox were more extensive ; and he there 
had trained a prodigious multitude of He and She evangelists, 
whom he sent with hie pastoral letters — not only to every place 
where his sect had previously obtained any footing, but to all the 
sovereigns of the universe ; — to the king of France, the German 
emperor, and even to the Turkish sultan, &c. commanding 
them, on the part of God, to embrace his gospel doctrine : these 
letters were conveyed into the most distant parts of the globe 
— by troops of men, women, and almost infant apostles of both 
sexes ; who backed them with their own spontaneous effusions, 
but, alas ! — to little purpose ! At home, these new reformers 
traversed in the paroxysm of their zeal our towns and villages ; 
furiously declaiming against Episcopacy and Presbyterian ism ; 
in a word — against all established religions indiscriminately. 
" They ridiculed the public worship ; insulted the ministers in 
the time of Divine service ; contemned alike the authority of 
the laws and that of the magistrates," says Mosheim; "alleging 
for the motive of their conduct — inspiration ! Thus they ex- 
cited in church and state the most alarming commotions ; nor 
can we be surprised, if the civil power was at length obliged to 
employ the severest coercive measures against these turbulent 
fanatics." Ecclesiastic. Hist. 

After the death of his father, William Penn obtained of the 
king, in lieu of what remained due to him from government on 
his lather's account — the grant of an entire province in America, 
which from him was called Pennsylvania. Thither he conduct- 
ed a colony of his disciples ; built for them the city of Philadel- 
phia; and himself became their legislator. Notwithstanding 

Tt2 



332 QUA 

their aversion for war, they have been, more than once, corn-* 
pelled to take up arms against the savages who invaded their 
possessions, and to repel force with force. 

In England the Quakers are not now so numerous as formerly, 
nor so unsociable. The more enlightened part begin to see the 
absurdity of that stern and Pharisaical contempt for the innocent 
and received usages of their fellow- men ; and that such odious 
singularity renders even virtue itself ridiculous. Quakers, like 
all other sects, have also varied in their doctrine. Those of 
Pennsylvania, who enjoy absolute liberty in both civil and reli« 
gious matters, have likewise stretched licentiousness of senti- 
ment much farther than their English brethren, in proportion 
as the latter have always been restrained by the ruling sect, and 
by the severity of government. Many among the former have 
adopted opinions the most impious ; and vast numbers of them 
have degenerated into open Deism. 

The parallel which some moderns have been pleased to trace 
— between Quakerism and primitive Christianity, — is absurd, 
and rests upon assertions utterly devoid of truth. They pretend, 
that the Pennites, in refusing baptism, have Jesus Christ him- 
self for their surety, who, they falsely say, never administered 
it to any man ; for Jesus Christ has positively ordered his dis- 
ciples to baptise all nations. If then he neglected to baptise his 
apostles, he himself, it must be said, has violated his own or- 
dinance. Himself assures us, that unless a man be born again 
of water and the Holy Ghost, he shall not enter into the king- 
dom of heaven. Can the Spirit of Truth and Jesus Christ con- 
tradict each other ; or rather, is not Fox's internal spirit evi- 
dently the spirit of error and imposture ? They say, again, 
that the primitive christians were all equal, as Quakers too 
affect to be. This also, is a false assertion : did not the apostles 
exercise authority over the rest of the faithful ? Did they not 
establish pastors to whom they transmitted that authority, and 
to whom they commanded laics to submit ? Did they not order 
all to be obedient and submissive to magistrates and princes, 
and to those in power ? These indeed, our Quakers have more 
than once insulted, even on their judicatory tribunal; and have 
constantly refused them the smallest demonstration of respect. 
The first disciples, continue these parallelogists, received the 
spirit, and spoke in the assembly ; they had neither temples, 
nor altars, nor ornaments, nor tapers, nor any ceremonies at 
all. Fox and his disciples have only imitated them. Here, 
again, the disparity is palpable : the inspiration of the primitive 
christians is demonstrable from the miraculous gifts with which 
it was accompanied. But how do our pretenders to primitive 
Christianity demonstrate their' s ? St Paul, moreover, laid down 
rules for regulating the use of these very gifts in christian assem- 
blies ^ and expressly prohibited 'women from preaching and in* 



QUA 333 

strutting there ; and it is plain from the apocalypse, that even 
in the time of the apostles, christians had their altars, their or- 
naments, and their incense ; their tapers, and their ceremonies. 
We prove also, against protestants in general, and unbelievers 
in globo, that from the infancy of the christian church, seven 
sacraments have always been admitted. (See Luther.) Nor 
is an apparent gravity and austerity of demeanour any better 
proof of the orthodoxy of a sect : they have been found repeat- 
edly — in sectaries whom Quakers themselves would condemn 
as fanatics and false teachers : they are sometimes found in 
heathens and Mahometans; sometimes, even in Atheists. 
Their principles are wrong; the foundation of true faith is 
wanting, without which, St Paul informs us, it is impossible to 
please God. We are prepared to give them credit for their 
moral virtues, although Mosheim and his translator exert their 
utmost ingenuity to render them suspected ; but they cannot, 
of themselves, entitle their possessors to supernatural reward. 
We sincerely pity their delusion, and wish them no other harm, 
than that of opening their eyes and heart to see, and to embrace 
with ardor, the true Christianity. 

With regard to the profession of arms, which Quakers disal- 
low in christians, it is not in itself unlawful. St John the Bap- 
tist commanded soldiers to do violence to no man . . . and to be 
content with their pay, Luke iii. He did not enjoin them to 
abandon their profession : when Jesus Christ himself commended 
the faith of the centurion, he did not reprobate his calling, Matt, 
viii. St Paul recommends to every one to continue in the state 
of life in which he was engaged when first called to the faith ; 
soldiers are not excepted, 1 Cor. vii. Tertullian testifies that in 
his time the camps and armies were full of christians, and that 
they were good soldiers since they were not afraid of death. 
(Apol. c. 37, 42.) If in other places he seems to prohibit the 
military profession to christians, it is only because at that time 
an unlawful oath was tendered to them at their admittance. 
But when this grievance was done away, the third canon of the 
council of Aries excommunicated those who should desert even 
in time of peace. Constantine was then emperor ; and christian 
soldiers were no longer in danger of prevarication, as such serious 
inconveniences did not then exist. (See Bellarm. t. 2. Controv. 
de Laicis.) The lawfulness too, of paying taxes, our blessed Sa- 
viour himself has sufficiently declared : render, says he, to Cesar 
the things that are Cesar's, (Matt. 22.) and St Paul — tribute to 
whom tribute is due, (Rom. xiii.) Oaths likewise — under due cir- 
cumstances, are justified by the example of the great Lawgiver him- 
self — theLord hathsworn,and it shall not repent him, (Ps. 109,) and 
they are also commended when taken by men in a reverent and 
respectful manner, all they shall be praised who swear in Mm y 
(Ps. 62.) Even the angels swear by Him that livethfor ever and 



334 QUA 

ever, as we are informed in the Revelations. What our blessed 
Lord says seemingly against oaths of any kind, is to be under- 
stood of all rash, inconsiderate and unnecessary swearing — in 
common conversation, for instance, or in passion. With 
Quakers we most cordially agree, that law-suits, on account of the 
danger of injustice or uncharitableness, ought, if possible, to be 
avoided by christians ; and that it would be better to suffer wrong 
than to offend in either instance, 

Quartodecimans — those who after the general council of 
Nice, obstinately continued to celebrate the paschal solemnity on 
the fourteenth day of the moon of March. This deviation from 
the general rule, tolerated in the church without any breach of 
communion, had subsisted a considerable time— when it began 
in the pontificate of pope Victor, to be canvassed with greater 
warmth than heretofore. Asia Minor, alleging the example of 
St John the evangelist, observed it on the fourteenth day of the 
moon, with a few neighbouring provinces. « The universal 
church, if we except these provinces," says Eusebius, " had af- 
fixed the solemnity of the resurrection to the Sunday exclusively." 
Many councils were convened upon this disparity of practice 5 
and they were all unanimous in confining the Easter solemnity 
to the Sunday. This universality of sentiment was opposed by 
Polycrates bishop of Ephesus, one of the most eminent prelates 
of the church at that time, and the first among the Asiatics : 
Victor requested him by letter, as he had done with regard to 
the rest of the principal pastors, to assemble the bishops of his 
province, with a threat of excommunication if he persisted to op- 
pugn the general sentiment. Polycrates assembled them accord- 
ingly ; and they were all determined like him, to adhere to what 
they thought the tradition of their predecessors. Victor was 
prevailed upon to proceed no farther : but in 325 the contro- 
versy was decided by the general council of Nice 5 and those 
were qualified schismatics who refused submission to the synodi- 
cal decree. If any held the practice of celebrating Easter on the 
fourteenth of the moon to be of precept from the Jewish law, 
such were always classed by the church with heretics. The 
Scotch or Irish, in the fifth and sixth centuries, kept Easter on 
a Sunday; — not, like the Quartodecimans and Jews, on the 
fourteenth day, unless when this fourteenth day coincided with 
the Sunday : by which circumstance they differed widely from 
the practice condemned at Nice ; yet fell short of perfect con- 
formity with the universal church. 

If any of the apostles who lived among the Jews, tolerated 
for some time a coincidence of Easter with the Jewish Pasch — a 
fact by no means clearly proved, — at least the contrary rule was 
always the general discipline of the church, — a rule established 
by the apostles — to show, that christians were not bound by the 



QUI 335 

Jewish ceremonial law, and distinctly to assert the liberty of the 
gospel, in the same manner as they transferred the Sabbath to 
the Sunday. See Butler's Lives of the Saints, vols. vii. p. 
383-4. and x. p. 254-5, ed. Edin. in the lives of St Victor P. M. 
and St Wilfrid the elder. See also the article Culdees. 

Quietism — The heresy and fanaticism broached by Michael 
Molinos, a Spanish priest and spiritual director previously in 
great repute at Rome, who in his book entitled, The Spiritual 
Guide, established a pretended system of perfect contemplation. 
" It turns chiefly upon the following general principles, i. That 
perfect contemplation is a state in which a man does not reason, 
or reflect either on God or himself; but passively receives the 
impression of heavenly light without exercising any act ; the 
mind being in a perfect state of inaction and inattention, which 
this author terms Qidet. This principle is a notorious illusion and 
falsity ; for even in supernatural impressions or communications, 
however a soul may be abstracted, and insensible to external ob- 
jects which act upon the organs of the senses, she still exercises^ 
her understanding and will, — in adoring, loving, praising, or the 
like pious affections, as is demonstrable both from principle, and 
from the testimony of all true contemplatives. 2. This fanatic 
teaches, that a soul in that state desires nothing, — not even its 
own salvation ; and fears nothing, — no not even hell itself. 
This principle, big with pernicious consequences, is heretical; 
as the precept and constant obligation of hoping for salvation 
through Christ, is an article of faith. The pretence, that a total 
indifference is a state of perfection, is folly and impiety ; for so- 
licitude about things of duty is a precept : nor can a person ever 
be exempt from the obligation of that charity, which he owes 
both to God and himself, and by which he is bound above all 
things to desire, and to labor for, his own salvation and the eter- 
nal reign of God in his soul, — A third principle of this author is 
no less notoriously heretical; — that in such a state the use of the 
sacraments and good works becomes indifferent ; and that the 
most criminal representations and motions in the sensitive part 
of the soul, are foreign to the superior, and not sinful — in this 
elevated state ; as if the sensitive part of the soul were not sub- 
ject to the government of the rational or superior part; or, as if 
the latter could be indifferent as to what passes in the other. 
Some affirm, that Molinos carried this last principle so far, as to 
authorize the abominations of the Gnostics ; but the generality 
of divines excuse him from so foul an imputation. (See F. 
Avrigny, Honore of St Mary, &c.) Innocent XI. in 1687, 
condemned sixty-eight propositions extracted from this author, 
as respectively heretical, scandalous and blasphemous. Molinos 
was condemned by the inquisition at Rome ; recalled his errors, 



536 QUI 

and ended his days in confinement in 1696." (See d'Argentre, 
Collect, judiciorum de novis erroribus, T. 3, part 2, p. 402, &c. 
also Mr Butler, in the life of St John of the Cross.) 

Semi-Quietism — was patronized for some time by the great 
Fenelon. Madame Guyon a widow-lady of great piety and wit 
wrote An easy and short Method of Prayer, and Solomon's Can- 
ticle of Canticles interpreted in a mystical sense ; for which by or- 
der of Lewis XIV. she was confined in a nunnery ; although 
soon after she was enlarged. She next published The Old Tes- 
tament with Explanations, Her own Life by herself, with other 
works — all written with spirit and a lively imagination. Her 
doctrine she submitted to the judgment of Bossuet, then esteem- 
ed the most accurate theologian in the French dominions. Af- 
ter a mature examination Bossuet with cardinal Noailles, Fene- 
lon, then lately nominated archbishop of Cambray, and Mons. 
Tronson, superior of St Sulpice,drew up thirty articles concerning 
the sound maxims of a spiritual life ; to which Fenelon added 
four others. These thirty-four articles were signed by them at 
Issy in 1695. (See Argentre's Collect. Jud. de nov. error. T. 3. 
Du Plessis, Hist, de Meaux, T. 1. p. 492. Memoires Chronol. 
T. 3. p. 28.) During this examination, Bossuet and Fenelon had 
frequent disputes — for and against- — disinterested love, or divine 
love of pure benevolence. The latter in some measure under- 
took the patronage of Madame Guyon, and in 1697 published a 
book entitled The Maxims of the Saints ; in which a kind of 
Semi- Quietism was advanced. The clamor raised on this occa- 
casion drew the author into disgrace at the court of Lewis XIV. 
and the book was condemned by Innocent XII. in 1699, on the 
twelfth of March ; and by the author himself, on the ninth of 
April following. Together with the book — twenty-three propo- 
sitions extracted from it were censured by his holiness — as rash, 
and in practice pernicious, as also respectively erroneous ; but 
none were qualified heretical. 

The principal error of Semi-Quietism consists in the following 
doctrine : — that in the state of perfect contemplation, it belongs 
to the entire annihilation in which a soul places herself before 
God, and to the perfect resignation of herself to his will, that 
she be indifferent whether she be damned or saved : which mon- 
strous extravagance destroys the obligation of christian hope. 
The divine precepts can never clash, but confirm each other. 
It would be blasphemy to pretend, that because God, as a 
universal ruler, suffers sin, we may therefore take a complacen- 
cy in beholding it committed by others. No one is damned but 
for sin and final impenitence ; and while we adore the Divine 
justice and the awful severity of his decrees, we are bound to 
reject sin with the utmost abhorrence, and deprecate damnation 
with the greatest ardor j both which, by the Divine grace we 
have it in our power to avoid. Where then can there be any 



REB 3S7 

room for such a pretended resignation, at the very thought of 
which piety must shudder ? No such blasphemies occur in the 
writings of St Teresa, St John of the Cross, or in other ap- 
proved spiritual authors. If they seem to be expressed in cer- 
tain passages of some spiritual works, as those of Bernieres, &c. 
these expressions are to be corrected by the rule of solid theo- 
logy. Fenelon was misguided chiefly by an adulterated edition 
of the spiritual entertainments of St Francis of Sales, published 
at Lyons in 1628 by Drobet. Yet this faulty edition, with its 
additions and omissions, has been sometimes reprinted !" 

** Some advised Fenelon, in his turn to charge his adversary 
with heterodox opinions, and to impeach him at Rome of an at- 
tempt to establish theological hope upon the ruins of Divine 
charity. But the pious archbishop made answer, that he never 
would inflame a dispute by recriminating a brother, whatever 
might have seemed prudent to be done in other circumstances. 
When reminded of the insincerity of the human heart which he 
had so often himself experienced, he replied : Let us die in our 
simplicity. In effect, some of those who carried the point 
against him, were condemned, by the public voice, for their want 
of charity in their method of carrying on the contest ; while Fe- 
nelon, who erred in theory, was misguided — only by an excess in 
his most ardent wishes to obtain it." 

<c As to the distinction of the motives in our love of God, too 
nice or anxious an enquiry is, in practice, generally fruitless 
and pernicious : our business is — more and more to die to our- 
selves, — to purify our hearts, and employ our understanding in 
the contemplation of the divine perfections and heavenly myste- 
ries, and our affections in the various acts of holy iove; — a 
boundless field in which our souls may freely take their range. 
And while we blame the extravagances of false mystics, we must 
never fear being transported to excess in our love of God. It 
can never go too far ; since the only measure of our love of God 
ought to be — to love without measure, according to the remark of 
St Bernard. Let but humility and obedience accompany it, and 
we shall not ultimately miss our way." (See Butler's Lives of the 
Saints, vol. xi. p. 432, 3, 4. Ed. Edin.) 



R 

Rebaptisers— a name given by their opponents to those, who 
maintained the necessity of re-baptising all heretics. The No- 
vatians re-baptised all their proselytes indiscriminately ; and St 
Cyprian decreed, that the Novatian converts to the catholic 

u u 



S5S XEB 

church—were, in their turn, to be re-baptised upon their ad- 
mittance to communion. This error was adopted by the Dona- 
tists in the fourth age, and by the Anabaptists in the sixteenth." 
" It had been the constant doctrine of the catholic church, that 
baptism given in the evangelical form j that is, in the name of 
the three Divine Persons of the most Blessed Trinity, was valid, 
though conferred by heretics. This was the practice even of 
the African church, till Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, in the 
close of the second century introduced the change, fifty years 
before St Cyprian, as St Augustine and Vincent Lirinensis 
testify ; and St Cyprian himself appeals only to a council held 
by Agrippinus, for the origin of his mistaken tradition. (Ep. 
73, ad Jubaian. n. 3.) Led by this erroneous principle, St 
Cyprian, in three African councils, defined, that baptism confer- 
red by any heretic is of course invalid ; which decision he founded 
on this false maxim — that no one can receive the Holy Ghost 
by the ministry of a person, who does not himself possess him 
in his soul. This fallacious reasoning would equally go to 
prove, that no one in mortal sin can validly administer any sa- 
crament : whereas, Christ himself being the principal though 
invisible minister in the administration of the scraments, neither 
faith, nor the state of grace is required in the administrator — 
in order to its validity ; though both are necessary to preserve 
him from the guilt of sacrilege. St Cyprian summed up all the 
arguments which he thought in favour of his cause, in a letter 
to Jubaianus, written in 256. Many bishops of Cilicia, Cappa- 
docia and Phrygia, with Firmilian the learned bishop of Caesa- 
rea, and Helenus of Tarsus at their head, fell in with the Afri- 
cans, and maintained the same error." 

"All the advocates for this practice falsely imagined it to be 
a point of mere discipline, in which every church might be 
allowed to follow its own rule or law, — not of faith, which is 
every where invariable. Firmilian and St Cyprian maintained 
the contest with too much warmth ; especially the former, who 
spoke of St Stephen in a manner not altogether becoming. The 
respect which is due to their name and virtue, obliges us to cast 
a veil over this unjustifiable want of temperance ; in imitation of 
the great St Augustine — who, speaking of Firmilian, says: 
" I will not touch upon what he let fall in his anger against 
Stephen." He was willing to persuade himself, that both Fir- 
milian and St Cyprian afterwards renounced their prejudices. 
He often repeats, that their eminent labors and their charity 
atoned for this fault. Writing of St Cyprian, he says: " That 
fault was compensated by the abundance of his charity, and was 
done away by the axe of his martyrdom." (1. 1, debapt. c. 18.) 

" Stephen," says this father, (I. 5. c. 21.) " thought of ex- 
communicating them ; . . . but being endued with, the bowels of 
holy charity, he judged it better to abide in union. . . . The 



RHE 339 

peace of Christ overcame in their hearts." Let this great saint's 
authority suffice — in answer to the cavils and slanderous insinua- 
tions of some modern critics, who most unjustly tax the conduct 
of pope Stephen with haughtiness and pride." 

" The judicious Vincent of Lerins (Common*, c. 9.) gives the 
following statement of the dispute in question: — " when all (but 
the comparatively few that patronised it) cried out against the 
novelty, and the priests every where opposed it in proportion to 
each one's zeal, then pope Stephen of blessed memory, bishop of 
the apostolic see, stood up with his other colleagues against it $ 
but he — in a signal manner above the rest — thinking it becom- 
ing, I believe, that he should go as much beyond them by the 
ardor of his faith, as he was raised above them by the authority 
of his see. In his letter to the church of Africa, he thus de- 
crees : — Let no innovation take place ; let that be observed which 
is handed down to us by tradition. The discreet and holy man 
was well aware, that the rule of piety admits nothing new ; but 
that all things are to be delivered down to our posterity — with 
the same fidelity with which they were received ; and that it is 
our duty to follow religion, and not make religion follow us : for 
the proper characteristic of a modest and sober christian, is — not 
to obtrude his own conceits upon posterity, but to make his own 
imaginations bend to the wisdom of those who have gone before 
him. What then was the issue of this grand affair ? Antiquity 
kept possession, and novelty was exploded." 

" With this great man Eusebius, (1. 7. c. 3.) St Augustine in 
many places, (as above) St Jerom, (dial, contr. Lucif.) Facundus 
Hermian, (1. 10. c. 3.) &c. unanimously aver, that St Stephen 
maintained the apostolical tradition, and the doctrine of the 
church afterwards solemnly defined by the great councils of Aries 
and Nice." (See the learned Alban Butler's Lives of Saints, vols, 
viii. p. 35-6, 7, 8. and ix. 208-9. ed. Edin.) 

Reformation — so called by its sectarists, and emphatically 
termed by them — the Work of Light, and the happiest as well as 
the most astonishing revolution that ever took place on the grand 
theatre of the world, was effected by Luther and his fellow gos- 
pellers in the sixteenth century. The author of the Spirit of 
Controversy exhibits this extraordinary revolution in the most 
unfavorable point of view, and characterises it as follows: — 
" That monstrous aggregate of the thing called the Reforma- 
tion," says he, " has been prurient of more absurdities, and even 
of more immorality and impiety than the Coran itself," (p. 155.) 
Our readers we must leave to judge — which of these two charac- 
ters most appositely define the protestant reformation. (See the 
articles Luther, Calvin, &c.) 

Rhetorians — a sect which, according to Philastrius, first 

v u 2 



34-0 RUS 

appeared in Egypt in the fourth age. They were so denomina- 
ted from Rhetorius their author. They patronised all the here- 
sies which had been broached from the infancy of the church 
down to that period, and maintained them all to be equally ra- 
tional ! Their system would seem to coincide with that of Liber- 
tinism or Latitudinarianism, and to have little or no connection 
with Christianity. 

Roscelin — who taught theology towards the close of the 
eleventh century, maintained that the three Divine Persons 
constituted three different things, just as three angels constitute 
three distinct beings ; pretending that otherwise it might be 
truly said, that the Father and the Holy Ghost, as Veil as the 
Son, assumed our human nature ; but that, notwithstanding, 
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost were but one God; because 
they had the same power and the same will. He thought, how- 
ever, that they might have been termed three Gods, had not 
prescription declared against that manner of speaking with re- 
spect to the Divinity. This is the error of the Tritheists : it 
was condemned in a council held at Compiegne in 1092. Ros- 
celin retracted ; but a short time after he gave out, that his 
recantation was merely the effect of a serious apprehension on 
his part, of being knocked on the head by an ignorant po- 
pulace. 

St Anselm undertook a refutation of this erroneous doctrine 
in a treatise entitled — Of Faith > — of the Trinity and. the Incar- 
nation. Throughout this treatise he insists triumphantly on the 
reasonableness — of captivating our understanding and our reason 
itself to the mysteries of faith , as St Paul admonishes ; and of 
not arguing against any point of doctrine taught by the church 
of God. He observes, that the incomprehensibility of any 
mystery is no reason why we should reject it ; and that it would 
be folly to deny that there are many things above the reach of 
human understanding. 

Runcami — a sect which practised the infamies of the Pata- 
rini or Paulicians ; maintaining that no carnal sin was mortal, &c. 
See Patarini. 

Rupitani, or Rockmen — a branch of Donatists: see the 
article. (Dup. 13, siec. p. 190.) 

Rustics — a name given to a sect of Anabaptists, consisting 
of country clowns and banditti who, under the pretext of reli- 
gion, excited tumult and insurrections in the towns. See the 
article Anabaptists. 



SAC 341 



s 



Sabbatarians — a branch of Anabaptists. Consult the ar- 
ticle. 

Sabellianism — the heresy of Sabellius ofPtolemais in Libya, 
a disciple of Noetus, who renewed the condemned opinions of 
Praxeas ; denying the real distinction of the three Divine Per- 
sons. St Dionysius of Alexandria to whom belonged the care 
of the churches of Pentapolis, caused the authors of this error to 
be admonished, in order to disclaim it : but they defended their 
blasphemies with greater obstinacy. He therefore condemned them 
in a council at Alexandria in 261. Before this, by a letter of 
which Eusebius has preserved a fragment, he had given informa- 
tion of the doctrine of Sabellius to St Sixtus II. bishop of Rome 
from 257 to 259, (1. 7. c. 9.) In his letter to Euphranor and 
Ammonius against this heresy, he insists much on the proofs of 
Christ's human nature— to shew that the Father is not confound- 
ed with the Son. Some persons took offence at his doctrine ; and 
complaints on this head were carried to St Dionysius bishop of 
Rome, who had succeeded St Sixtus. That pope wrote to the 
bishop of Alexandria upon the subject, who cleared himself by 
showing, that when he called Christ a creature and different in 
substance from the Father, he spoke only of his human nature. 
This was the subject of his apology to the bishop of Rome, in 
which he demonstrated that the Son, as to his divine nature, is 
of the same substance with the Father ; as is clearly proved by 
St Athanasius in his book On the Opinion of Dionysius. In his 
apology Dionysius established also, against both ancient and 
modern heretics, the divinity of the Holy Ghost ; as St Basil 
testifies by quotations extracted from the above apologetic. See 
Praxeans, Noetians, &c. 

Beausobre's vindication of Sabellius, as well as of almost every 
other heretic, is trifling and nugatory in the extreme. Here he 
is deserted by his great rival in misrepresentation — Mosheim# 
(Historian Christian, saec. 3, n. 33.) 

Saccophori — an epithet which designated various sectarians ; 
for instance, the Apotactics, the Apostolus^ the Encratites^ Ma- 
nichecs, &c. (See their respective articles.) They were clad in 
sack-cloth, to give them an air of penitence and mortification ; 
and often under this garb they concealed the most shameful irre- 
gularities. The church, aware of their hypocrisy, and that the 
people frequently are duped by this vain show of mortification, 
never hesitated on such occasions to proscribe it. 



342 SAN 

Sacramentarians- — those that denied the real presence. See 
Zuinglians and Calvinists. 

Sampseans — were Oriental sectarists whose opinions are not 
distinctly known. St Epiphanius, in his history of sectarism 
(haer. 53) says, they cannot properly be ranked with either Jews, 
or Christians, or Pagans ; and that their system appears to have 
been a compound borrowed from them all. Their name is de- 
rived from the Hebrew word Schemesch, which signifies the sun ; 
and they are supposed to have adored that heavenly body. On 
the other hand they are said, rather inconsistently, to have main- 
tained the unity of the godhead, and to have practised the Jew- 
ish ablutions, with other ceremonies of that religion ; and St 
Epiphanius takes them to have been the same with the Elcesaites. 
See that article. The adoration of the sun was very common 
among the Oriental nations in ancient times, and the Jews 
themselves were guilty of it more than once. It is condemned 
in scripture as a crime. Deut. c. 4, v. 19. Job c. 31, v. 26, &c. 
Ezech. c. 8, v. 16. 

Sandemanians — originated in Scotland in 1728. John 
Glas, a minister of the kirk of Scotland, was expelled from its 
communion ; and his adherents formed themselves into separate 
societies, conformable in their rights and discipline, to what they 
deemed to be the plan of the first churches recorded in the New 
Testament. In Scotland they still retain the name of Glasites. 
Before the year 1760, Sandeman, an elder in one of these so- 
cieties, established them in strict fellowship with the churches of 
Scotland-; while he renounced all communion with other 
churches. From him the sect is ordinarily distinguished by the 
appellation of Sandemanians. 

Their chief peculiarities in practice are — their weekly ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Stepper ,• their love feasts, of which 
every member is required to partake, and which consist in their 
dining together at each other's habitations — in the interval be- 
tween the morning and afternoon service ; their kiss of charity, 
used on this occasion, at the admission of a new member, and at 
other times when deemed necessary and proper ; their previous 
collection for the poor, and for other purposes ; mutual exhorta- 
tion ; abstinence from blood and things strangled ; washing each 
other's feet — the precept concerning which they understand 
literally; — community of goods — in this sense, that each one 
is to consider whatever he possesses, as liable to the calls of the 
poor, and of their society ; and the unlawfulness of laying up 
treasures upon earth — by reserving them for any distant, future 
and uncertain use. 

In their discipline they are strict and severe, and will hold no 
communion with other societies which appear to them not to 



S E M 343 

profess — what they call — the simple truth, or neglect to act ac- 
cordingly. In a word, they may, with great propriety, rank 
among the Presbyterians — as the Pharisees did heretofore 
among the Jews. They cannot well exceed them in the opinion 
which they entertained of their own righteousness — although, 
unfortunately, our Blessed Saviour thought not quite so highly 
of them. (See Mr Evans, Sketch.) 

Sanguinarians — a sect of Anabaptists, who deemed it a sa- 
cred duty to shed the blood of all that differed in opinion from 
themselves. 

Saturninus — said to have been a disciple of Menander, im- 
proved upon his master's system, and himself became the author 
of a sect. His visionary fancies regarding the origin of all things, 
the pretended good and evil Principles, the eternity of matter 
and the production of this visible world, were equally arbitrary, 
unphilosophical and absurd. For what can be more ridiculous 
than to imagine two eternal, increated, self-existent Beings in lieu 
of one ; while it would be just as rational to suppose there were 
ten thousand ? See the articles Hermogenians, Manichees, 
&c. 

Seceders — are those in globo, who dissent from the Kirk 
of Scotland ; and are rigid Calvinists — more austere in their 
manners, and severe in their discipline, than ordinary presbyte- 
rians. They derive their appellation from the Latin word secedo, 
which signifies to withdraw. There is a class of dissenters from 
the church of Scotland termed the Relief society ; who differ from 
the Kirk principally, if not solely, in choosing their own ministers. 

Secundians — the followers of Secundus a disciple of Valen- 
tinus, who introduced certain alterations in the system of that 
impostor. See Valentinians. (Epiph. Haer. 32. Philastr. 
Hser. 40.) 

Segarelians or Sagarelians. See the article Apostolics. 

Seleucus — adopted the errors of Hermogenes. See Her- 
mogenians. 

Semi-Arians — were those that maintained Jesus Christ to be 
like in substance, but not consubstantial with the Father. See 
Arians. 

Semipelagians. See Pelagians. 

Semiquietists. See Quietists. 



344 S H A 

Sethians or Sethites — were heretics of the second age who 
had an extraordinary veneration for the patriarch Seth, one of 
the sons of Adam : they were a branch of Valentinians, and 
pretended that two angels of very contrary dispositions had created 
Cain and Abel;— that after the death of Abel, the great virtue, 
by which we suppose they meant the Divine Power, raised up 
Seth from seed immaculate : but they do not inform us — whether 
the angels — some of whom were good, the rest evil — had derived 
their origin from the same source. They tell us indeed, that these 
good and evil spirits had concurred in the production of a wicked 
generation of men, whom their fanciful supreme divinity, called 
by them the Great Virtue, overwhelmed in the universal flood ; 
but that, notwithstanding, a part of their malignity found its 
way into the ark, and thence diffused itself over the earth. This 
absurd hypothesis was devised in order to account for the exist- 
ence of good and evil in the universe; and, to the same origin 
precisely, does the system of the various sects of Gnostics owe 
its birth. 

Theodoret confounded the Sethians with the Ophites, and 
very possibly the only difference between these two sects was — 
the superstitious veneration of the former for the patriarch Seth : 
they maintained that his soul had transmigrated into the sacred 
person of Jesus Christ, and constituted one individual with him. 
They held a thousand other still greater absurdities, which it 
would be quite superfluous to detail. (See St Ireneus adv. Hser. 
1. I.e. 7, &c. St Epiph. Hser. 31. Tert. de Prescrip. c. 47.) 

Severians— a branch of Tatianites, headed by one Severus 
a disciple of Tatian. (See Tatianites.) 

Shakers — are an American sect which took its rise towards 
the close of the last century. They are the disciples of one 
Hannah Leese, " whom they stile," says Mr Evans, " the elect 
lady, and the mother of all the elect ; who, poor creatures ! 
must have been without a mother during the long lapse of so 
many ages before her appearance in North America !" Be this 
as it may, we are told that she is the identical woman mention- 
ed in the twelfth chapter of the Revelations ; that she can speak 
seventy-two languages, and converses with the dead. Jumping, 
dancing, and violent exertions of the body are the favorite exer- 
cises of this athletic sect, which bringing on shaking,they are hence 
denominated Shakers. Dancing, they say, denotes their victory 
over sin. They are also much pleased with another similar reli- 
gious feat : it consists in turning round and round for an hour 
or two successively ; which, in their sublime ideas, admirably 
shews the great power of God. See a farther account of these 
fanciful enthusiasts in the Travels of Rochefoucault through 
America, vol. 1. 



SIM S45 

Simon the Magician — was a Samaritan, and had acquired 
an extraordinary reputation in the city of Samaria, before the 
arrival of St Stephen. St Luke informs us, that he seduced the 
people with his magical practices ; and he adds, (Acts viii. 10) 
that they all gave ear to him from the least to the greatest '; saving : 
This man is the power of God, which is called great. These 
Illusions and impostures the infernal spirit sought to oppose to 
the true miracles of Christ ; as he was suffered to assist the ma- 
gicians of Pharaoh against Moses. But God, when he permits 
the devil to exert in so extraordinary a manner his natural 
strength and powers, always furnishes his servants with the 
means of discerning and confounding the imposture. Aeeord- 
ingly, the true and undeniable miracles wrought by St Philip, 
put the magician out of countenance* Being himself eye-wii tness 
to these miracles, and seeing the people run to Philip to be bap- 
tised, he also, believed or pretended to believe, and was bap- 
tised. After which he attended Philip very diligently-— in hopes 
of receiving at his hands the power of miracle- lose wfiich 

he saw performed by him. The apostles at Jerusalem hearing 
of the conversion of Samaria, sent thither StjPeter and St John 
to confirm the new proselytes by the irapo 
sacrament which only bishops could confer. With the peculiar 
grace of this sacrament were usually imparted to the faithful at 
that time, certain external gifts of the miraculous Si- 

mon seeing these communicated to the laity by the imposition of 
the hands of the apostles, wished to purchase of them with money 
a similar privilege for himself: Give me also, cried Simon, this 
power ; that on whomsoever I shall lay my hands, he may receive 
the Holy Ghost. But St Peter said to him : Keep thy money to thy- 
self to perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of 
God may be purchased with money. Do penance for this thy wicked- 
ness ; and pray to God, if perhaps this thought of thy heart may 
be forgiven thee. For I see thou art in the gall qf bitterness, and 
engaged in the bonds of iniquity. Thus ill disposed, he was in- 
capable of receiving the gifts of the Holy Ghost, or, at least, 
interior sanctifying grace. Nor did he sincerely desire this. 
However, fearing the threat of temporal evils, he answered : 
Pray you for me to the Lord, that none of these things may 
come upon me. From this crime of Simon the sin 'of buying 
or selling any spiritual thing, — a traffic which both the law of 
nature and the positive Divine law most severely condemn, is 
called simony ; and to maintain it lawful, is usually termed in 
the canon law, the heresy of Simon Magus. Of this impostor 
we have no farther account in holy writ, except that he and his 
disciples seem hinted at by St Paul and St J tide ; (2 Tim. iii. 1, 
2, l 6, 8, 13. Jude 4) and St James proves against them, as 
well as against our reformers of latter times, the necessity of 
good works in order to salvation, (ii. 14.) St Peter also draws 

x x 



346 S O C 

their portrait in the most frightful colors. (2 Pet. ii. 1, 2, S 9 
13, &c.) The fathers generally deem the pretended conversion of 
Simon to the faith — an act of hypocrisy, founded only in ambi- 
tion and temporal views, and in the hope of purchasing the 
gifts of the Holy Ghost, which he ascribed to a superior art 
magic. We learn from St Epiphanius, (Hser. 21) St Ireneus, 
(1. 1, c. 20) Tertullian, (Praescrip. c. 33) Theodoret (Hseret. 
Fab. c. 1, 5, 9,) and other fathers, that he afterwards pretend- 
ed to be the Messiah, and called himself the Power of God who 
was descended upon earth to save mankind, and to re-establish 
order in the universe, which he affirmed had been disturbed by 
the ambition of the angels, contending for the principality, and 
enslaving men under their tyrannical government of this visible 
world. He said, that to hold man in subjection to themselves, 
they had invented the law of good works ; whereas, he contend- 
ed — that faith alone sufficeth to salvation. The world, he said, 
was created by angels who afterwards revolted from God, and 
usurped in it an undue power. Nevertheless he commanded 
them to be honored, and sacrifices to be offered to the Father 
by the mediation of these powers, — not with a view to implore 
their succour, but to appease them, for fear they should obstruct 
our designs, or hurt us after death. This superstitious worship 
of the angels was a downright idolatry, and was condemned by 
St Paul. (Col. ii. 18.) Simon moreover rejected the Old Tes- 
tament; pretending it was framed by the angels, and that he 
himself was sent to abolish it. Having purchased at Tyre an 
abandoned female slave of great beauty, he called her Helena, 
and said she was the first intelligence, and that through her the 
Father had created the angels. He used to call himself the 
Holy Ghost, and sometimes honored Helena too with the name 
of Paraclete. To himself he required divine honors to be paid, 
under the character of Jupiter, and to Helena in that of Miner- 
va. His extravagant system was a medley formed from Pagan- 
ism, and the Christian, Jewish and Samaritan doctrines ; and 
he sowed the seeds of the abominations afterwards practised by 
the Gnostics. In all things he affected to rival Jesus Christ ; and, 
in imitation of his ascension into heaven, he is said at Rome to 
have raised himself in the air by his magical powers, in presence 
of the emperor. SS. Peter and Paul beholding the delusion, 
had recourse to prayer ; upon which the impostor fell to the 
ground, broke a leg in the fall, and died a few days after in 
confusion and despair. Eusebius and other authors assure us, 
that the sect was not extinct till the commencement of the fifth 



Socinians — derive their appellation from Faustus Socinus a 
native of Sienna. His uncle Laelius Socinus, who died in 1562, 
had left behind him several treatises in manuscript, against the 



S O C 347 

mystery of the blessed Trinity ; and many amongst his friends 
embraced his heterodox opinions, especially his nephew Faustus 
Tvho entered warmly into his uncle's views, and resolved to com- 
mence himself— reformer of the reformed. With this design he 
went to Basil, and published his book On Jesus Christ the Saviour : 
in which he openly revived the Samosatenian and Photinian he- 
resy. Blandrata, an Antitrinitarian, who, after the execution of 
Servetus at Geneva for similar opinions, had retired into Poland 
and thence into Transylvania, invited him thither. Socinus af- 
terwards passed into Poland, in 1579. The Antitrinitarians of 
that kingdom were already divided into about fifty different sects ; 
but were all known by the general name of Unitarians. They 
had their conventicles in many great towns in Poland ; but Ra- 
covia in Little Poland was their metropolis, under the protection 
of the lord of that city, who had renounced Calvinism to espouse 
the cause of Unitarianism. In this place the Antitrinitarians 
had a famous college ; in which Crellius was the most celebrated 
professor, and minister from the year 1612. His name stands 
foremost, with the exception of Socinus himself, on the list of 
Socinian teachers ; and his books On the Unity of God, and the 
Satisfaction of Christ against Grotius's answer to Socinus, are 
much esteemed by his own sect. The college subsisted till the 
year 1638, when it was suppressed — in punishment of the riots 
of the students, who had pulled down the public crosses in the 
country, and profaned the churches. Faustus Socinus lived 
many years in Cracow ; but spent his latter days, and died in 
1 604, at a gentleman's house in the country, nine miles distant 
from that city. The Arians and Socinians of Poland favored 
Ragotzi, prince of Transylvania in his wars against Poland ; by 
which they so exasperated the state, that they were banished the 
kingdom in 1658, being allowed only two years to dispose of 
their estates. Great numbers retired into Holland, though they 
were not permitted there the exercise of their public worship. 
See Christophori Sandii Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum, an impi- 
ous though curious and learned piece, &c. This writer in his 
Nucleus Historiae Ecclesiastical, pretends to derive a continued 
succession of Arians and Socinians, as some protestant writers 
do — of protestants, from the earliest ages of Christianity. 

The leading principles of Socinianism are, first, that all scrip- 
tural doctrines are so to be understood, as to contain nothing 
above reason, — no mystery : and all the expressions which seem to 
imply the reverse, are to be looked upon as lofty, exaggerated 
phrases of the Oriental languages : for they pretend, that no- 
thing is to be allowed in faith, which our reason does not fully 
comprehend. Hence it would follow — that articles of faith must 
vary in proportion to men's capacities. Secondly, the Socinians 
teach, that Christ was formed indeed, by God — an extraordinary 
personage ; born of the Virgin Mary ; taken up to heaven, and 

x x 2 



348 S O C 

endued with that portion of divine power and knowledge which 
is denominated the Holy Ghost ; and sent again upon earth 
God's ambassador to men — to teach them his will and divine 
law. They deny his death to have been a satisfaction for our 
sins; but say, that those who obey his precepts, as all may do 
by the strength of their ow?i nature, will rise again in other bo- 
dies, and enjoy a happy life in that blessed place, in which God 
possesses his own beatitude : but that the wicked shall be con- 
demned to torments for a limited duration, after which they will 
be reduced to a state of annihilation. Some of them condemn, with 
the Quakers, all oaths, wars, and magistracies, together w r ith all 
capital punishment. Their form of worship differs little from 
that of Calvinists — their most intolerant and hereditary enemies. 
With them none but adults are baptised, and that by immersion ; 
and their notion of the eucharist is such as a Zuinglian or a Pres- 
byterian would allow. 

The first catechism of this sect was put out at Cracow in 1574. 
Faustus Socinus compiled a new one, which has been since en- 
larged under the title of the Catechism of Racovia : in it all 
points of the Socinian doctrine are not expressed; being in- 
tended rather as an apology to externs, than for the instruction 
of this people. See Schimidius's comments upon it in 1707, 
&c. &c. 

Some Socinians maintain Christ to have had an existence by 
creation, before he was born of the Virgin Mary ; but deny that 
he created the world, and interpret all passages in which creation 
is ascribed to him — of its spiritual creation or renovation, in as 
much only as he raised it from sin by his perfect law. Socinus 
maintained the lawfulness of worshipping and praising Christ, 
against one Davides and his disciples — Franken, Sommer, &c. 
whom he calls Semi-Judaizantes, and against whom lie published 
his book contra Semi-Judaizantes. Yet he very inconsistently 
procured the imprisonment of Davides ; since he allows this to 
be a point of no importance, and even affirms that they do best, 
who never pray to Christ at all. (Respons. ad Wajeckum, T. ii. 
p. 538.) The Budneans— so called from Simon Budneus who 
was followed by great numbers of Antitrinitarians in Lithuania 
and Polish Russia, and in 1584 was deprived of his office of 
teacher and preacher by Socinus and his friends, hold it unlawful 
to offer prayers, or worship and adoration to Christ ; and were 
with their author by Socinus secluded from the communion of his 
sect. The Holy Ghost is generally reduced by them to a mere 
operation of the Deity. 

Since the expulsion of the Socinians from Poland, they seem 
no where to retain a form of public church government, except 
in Transylvania ; where it still subsists, though in some degree 
discountenanced. (See Historia Crypto-Socinianismi Altorfini.) 
The Calvinistic magistrates and divhies rendered abortive — by 



SOC 349 

their vigilance and severity — all the efforts of the sect to sanction 
it in Holland. Samuel Crellius, who is esteemed the most subtle 
and the most learned writer of this society, chose rather to be 
called from Artemon — an Artemonite, than a Socinian. Many 
among the Arminians in Holland and Holstein, from Pelagian- 
ism fell into Socinianism. (See Cimbrice Literate?, T. 2. p. 981, 
&c.) When the Socinian and Arian controversies were started 
in Holland by the Polish refugees, they soon reached England ; 
and many even among the Presbyterian and Independent mini- 
sters, warmly embraced their errors, as Mr Nelson informs us in 
his Life of Bishop Bull. At that time the disputes about justifi- 
cation had been carried on with the greatest heat — both among 
the dissenters and the divines of the established church; many 
leaning to Antinomianism and Libertinism ; some to Pelagian- 
ism and Socinianism ; and others adhering to the council of 
Dort, Manicheism and Fatalism. The Solifidians in the first 
class, were long the most numerous ; the greater part looking 
upon this doctrine as the essence and the very soul of Protestant- 
ism. This error Mr George Bull of Oxford, then rector of 
Suddinton in Gloucestershire, solidly confuted by his Harmonia 
Apostolica printed in 1669 ; in which he defends, against the two 
grand reformers Luther and Calvin, the doctrine of St James 
concerning justification by works, and demonstrates that St 
Paul unequivocally teaches the same. 

In these debates concerning justification, some fell into the 
Socinian error with relation to Christ's satisfaction, imported 
hither from Holland ; and blasphemously maintained, that 
Christ did not suffer or die for man's redemption, or the satis- 
faction of sin ; and that no satisfaction or atonement can be made 
for another by a commutation of persons. This error was in- 
deed refuted by Dr Williams and Stillingfleet ; but was an in- 
troduction to the main Socinian blasphemy, that Christ was a 
mere man, and had no existence before his temporal birth of the 
blessed Virgin ; which pernicious doctrine — together with Arian- 
ism in all its forms, was rapidly diffused in England : and these 
heresies are now publicly professed by whole assemblies — in Lon- 
don and elsewhere. Many among the people called Quakers, 
seem to deny the mystery of the blessed Trinity ; and Hicks the 
Anabaptist, in his famous challenge to William Penn and George 
Whitehead, and to the Quakers in general, and in his conference 
on this head in London 1674, seems clearly to prove, that George 
Fox himself denied the divinity of Christ. And the learned 
Doctor Hickes, in his letter to Mr Nelson concerning Bishop 
Bull, ranks Quakers among the Unitarians, that is, the Socinians 
and Arians. (Life of Bull, p. 515.) It must be owned, how- 
ever, that neither George Fox the Anabaptist shoemaker, who 
first organised this sect in 1655, nor his fanatic colleague James 
Nailor, formerly quarter-master in Lambert's regiment under 



350 SOU 

Cromwell, explicitly denied the Trinity. Neither is this express- 
ed in Robert Barclay's Apology for the Quakers. Yet they uni- 
versally reject the words Trinity or Persons in God, and give no 
explanation of the scripture expressions, which alone they affect 
to employ. For a more detailed account of the use and progress 
of Antitrinitarianism see Butler's Moveable Feasts, p. 605 — to 
642 ; also Mr Miiner's viii. Letter to a Prebendary, upon Hoad- 
lyism ; the works of Doctors Bull, Williams, &c. 

The grand principle of Socinianism — that no mystery can be 
admitted in religion, and that what is above human reason is of 
course repugnant to it, flatters the pride of the human heart : 
but it is, in fact, the most extravagant inconsistency — in man, who 
at almost every step is compelled to own the weakness and 
short-sightedness of reason, and to whom the whole universe is 
in every part an inexplicable enigma : and much more — in a 
christian, to whom the scriptures present a religion founded on 
mystery and revelation. This inconsistency becomes more gla- 
ring when we take a nearer view of the doctrines of the most 
celebrated Socinians — differing widely from each other, and all 
fraught with mysteries more incomprehensible than those at 
which they take offence, if arrant nonsense may be allowed the 
name of mystery. The evidence of the Divine revelation, which 
by its meridian brightness dispels the mists of Deism, exposes 
also the artful subterfuges and studied evasions of Socinianism. 
The Calvinists, who rejected mysteries in the eucharist, and in 
several other doctrinal articles — upon the Socinian principle ; 
and who established religion upon the pretended grounds of 
reason, contesting it to have been founded by Christ on autho- 
rity, were often at a loss for an answer in defending the far 
more incomprehensible mysteries of the Trinity and Incarna- 
tion — against the Anti-Trinitarians. Unwilling, however, to 
set aside Christianity itself by stripping it of every advantage of 
which it is possessed, they — by a palpable dereliction of their 
own principles — repressed these errors with the sword. But 
great numbers of them now have so far shaken off' themselves the 
yoke of Christianity, as to have adopted in many points the So- 
cinian system. " In this," says D'Alembert, " if they are 
not orthodox, they are at least consistent with their own prin- 
ciples." (Miscellaneous Pieces, printed at Paris and at Lon- 
don.) See against Socinianism the concise, but most learned 
and accurate Answer to Clerk and Whiston, by Dr Hawarden, 
in 1729. 

Southcottians — are the followers of the visionary Lady Jo- 
anna Southcott, who in 1792 commenced her prophetical career, 
— announcing eventual salvation to the entire human race. The 
Lord, it would seem, told Lady Southcott, among other things, 
« that he should visit the surrounding nations with various ca- 



S T A 351 

lamities for fifteen years, as a warning to this land ; and that 
then he should bring about events here, which should more 
clearly manifest the truth of her mission, by judgments and 
otherwise ; so that this should be the happy nation to be the first 
redeemed from its troubles, and be the instrument for awaken- 
ing the rest of the world to a sense of what is coming upon all, 
and for destroying the beast, and those who worship his image" 
(See Mr Evans, Sketch.) 

The truth of this prophetess's mission, we presume, is still as- 
far from being made manifest to the world at large, as it 
was the first instant she began to prophesy, notwithstanding 
full twenty years have now elapsed since that period. So that 
her authority, we fear, must daily be on the decline among her 
votaries, unless some other equally inspired female should kind- 
ly step forward and contribute to uphold the flimsy delusion. 
Dame Southcott, by the bye, is herself possessed of wonderful 
invention, and loquacious address in palliating her fanciful new 
dreams to the credulity of an undiscerning rabble. Her pam- 
phlets are numerous, and constitute a curious farrago of prose and 
verse. Her passports to heaven, which she encloses in a small 
box to be carefully deposited in the coffin of the happy pur- 
chaser, she rates indeed somewhat high j though certainly, the 
price is by no means adequate to the intrinsic value of so pre- 
cious a commodity. 

Since writing the above, we are informed, the inventive ge- 
nius of this very eccentric female continues to amuse the public 
with wonderful accounts of new* revelations, among which the 
most important is — that she is actually with child of the Messiah, 
who, she says, is now about to re-visit the world through her 
medium in thejlesh, and to commence his millennial reign with 
all the elect upon the new apocalyptic earth. She had before, 
we recollect, given some shrewdish hints, to mortals what was 
in contemplation — when she revealed to the happy individual 
whom she was to marry, the nature of the functions to be dis- 
charged by him in quality of husband. Her miraculous con- 
ception closely followed the delicate intimation ; and, admirable 
indeed, is the pious officiousness with which her female votaries 
provide — the requisite state appendages for the honorable recep- 
tion of the new-born king of Israel; — among other precious 
articles, — a cradle of the most costly materials and unrivalled 
workmanship, and a font of massy silver gilt. Dame Southcott 
will now be in a capacity to dispute the pre-eminence in the 
new millennial kingdom, even with her very ambitious Ameri- 
can rival Hannah Leese — the reputed Mother of all the elect* 
(See article Shakers.) 

Stadhingi — were fanatics of the diocese of Bremen who a- 
dopted the Manichean principles, and in their assemblies wor- 
shipped Lucifer and the devil $ on which occasions the most in- 



352 S W E 

famous excesses were deemed acts of piety. The sect gradually in- 
creased, and missionaries were sent among them ; whom the Stad- 
hingi, with many insults, put to death. They conceived it would be 
a sacrifice singularly grateful to their good Principle Lucifer, if 
they could but immolate to him all the priests of Christendom. 
They roamed up and down the country ; pillaging the churches, 
and massacring the ministers of religion. Their progress alarm- 
ed the pastors of the church ; and pope Gregory IX. published 
against them a crusade, according the same indulgences to those 
that undertook it, as to the crusards in the holy wars of Palestine. 
Multitudes soon offered themselves for the sacred expedition, 
and were headed by the bishop of Bremen, the Duke of Bra- 
bant, and the Count of Holland. The Stadhingi trained to mi- 
litary discipline and led on by their frantic author who was him- 
self a soldier, encountered their assailants with determined cou- 
rage, left above six thousand of their fellows on the field of bat- 
tle ; and the sect itself was totally destroyed. (D' Argentre, Col- 
lect. Jud. torn. 1. an. 1230. Nat. Alex, in saec. 13. Dupin, 
treizieme siecle, c. 19.) See the articles Manichees, Albi- 

GENSES, &C. 

Swedenborgians, or New Jerusalemites — are the fol- 
lowers of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish nobleman, who 
died in London, 1772. This very fanciful gentleman conceived 
himself to be the founder (under the Lord) of the New Jerusalem 
church, described in the apocalypse. He, like every other en- 
thusiast, supports his novel opinions with scriptural authority. 
In the year 1743, the Lord, forsooth, manifested himself to 
him by a personal appearance, and opened his spiritual eyes 
constantly to see and converse with spirits and angels. Of the 
marvellous things heard and seen by him he gives the following 
account in his treatise- concerning heaven and hell : " As often 
as I conversed with angels face to face, it was in their habita- 
tions which are like to our houses on earth, but far more 
beautiful and magnificent, having rooms, chambers and apart- 
ments in great variety; as also spacious courts belonging to 
them, together with the gardens, parterres of flowers, fields, 
&c. where the angels are formed into societies. They dwell in 
contiguous mansions, disposed — after the manner of our cities — 
in streets, walks and squares. I have had the privilege to walk 
through them, to examine all round about me, and to enter 
into their houses ; and this when I was fully awake, having my 
inward eyes opened." A similar description he gives of heaven 
itself. 

Among other strange dreams, with his spiritual eyes open, he 
recounts the grand event of the last judgment, which took place, 
he says, in the spiritual world in 1757. From this era is dated 
the second coming of the Lord, and the commencement of a 



TAN 353 

new christian church, which is meant, they tell us, by the new 
heaven and new earth in the Revelations, and the New Jerusa- 
lem thence descending. 

Every page of scripture, according to our Swedish instructor, 
is written by certain correspondences, that is, by such things in 
the natural world as correspond unto and signify — things in the 
spiritual world. The science of correspondences, it is said, had 
been lost for some thousands of years, namely, ever since the 
time of Job ; till it was renewed by Emanuel Swedenborg, who 
uses it as a key to the spiritual or internal sense of holy writ. 
This may suffice to give some idea of the spirituality of his own 
conceptions, and those of his deluded followers, who are pretty 
numerous in various parts of this kingdom, in Germany, Swe- 
den, North America, &c. See Mr Evans's Sketch. A Trinity 
of Persons in the Godhead is rejected by this sect, while they 
maintain an ideal kind of Trinity in Jesus Christ. They are 
very partial to vocal music accompanied by the organ ; and the 
minister's dress is now exactly similar to that of the English 
clergy. Ibid. 

Syncretists — a sect of Lutherans. See that article. 

Synergists — another Lutheran sect. See Luther. 



The Taciturn or Silent — were a, sect of Anabaptists. See 
their article. 

Tankelin or Tanchelin — though a layman, commenced 
preacher at the beginning of the twelfth age, and published a va- 
riety of erroneous doctrines ; — doctrines which had been gra- 
dually diffusing over France for near a century of the profoundest 
ignorance, ushered in originally by the incursions of barbarians, — 
against the Roman pontiff, against the sacraments, and against 
the government of prelates, &c. He declaimed incessantly upon 
these topics, and taught the people the sacred duty of despising 
their superiors. The sacraments, he pretended, were sacrilegi- 
ous ceremonies ; the churches — houses of prostitution. As for 
the eucharist, he looked upon it as absolutely useless ; and he pro- 
hibited the paying of tithes. The ignorant and besotted people 
eagerly imbibed his notions, and thought him a divine man 
commissioned by heaven to reform the church. An armed mul- 
titude escorted him in triumph to the pulpit;; and while he 



sm TAT 

preached — a standard and a sword were displayed in order to 
enforce attention. His words were received by the gaping 
croud with the veneration due to oracles. 

When he had thus gained the ascendant over a deluded rab- 
ble, he blasphemously pretended, that he himself was God, and 
in nothing inferior to Jesus Christ. He said, that Jesus was 
God only in as much as he had received the Holy Ghost ; and 
that himself had equally received the plenitude of the same di- 
vine spirit, and consequently was his equal. He was believed ; 
and to such a pitch of folly did the delusion proceed, that the 
stupid people applauded the impostor — for the most unblushing 
effrontery with which he publicly abused their wives and daugh- 
ters ; esteeming it a mighty honor to be thus dishonored by the 
vilest of all hypocrites. The wretch now proceeded at the head 
of his frantic sectaries, to fill with slaughter and dismay all places 
where his impious doctrines were not submissively embraced ; till 
at length he fell a sacrifice to the tumults which himself had 
raised. His sect was propagated in the vicinity of Cologne and 
Utrecht ; but was soon suppressed by the severity of their punish- 
ment, except a remnant which intermingled with those groups of 
other heretics that then attacked the sacraments, the ceremonies 
of the church, and churchmen. (D'Argentre Collect. Judieioiv 
t. 1, p. 11.) 

Tascadru gists-— the same with PassaloryncJiites : see the ar- 
ticle MONTANISTS. 

Tatian — was a Syrian, a platonic philosopher, and disciple 
of St Justin the martyr 5 after whose death he taught some time 
at Rome. Returning into Syria in 171, he there disseminated 
his erroneous opinions, which he had dissembled while at Rome. 
Several of these errors he had borrowed from Marcion, Valenti- 
nus and Saturninus (see their respective articles) ; holding, like 
them, two self-existing Principles, and that the Creator is the 
evil God. To these capital errors he added several others ; for 
instancej — that Adam was damned, &c. Marriage he condemn- 
ed as not less criminal than adultery 5 whence his followers were 
called Encratites or — the Continent. They were likewise called 
Hydroparastatae or Aquarii, because in consecrating their eucha- 
rist they used only water ; for they absolutely condemned the 
use of wine, as well as that of flesh meat. (St Epiph. haer. 46. 
St Iren, 1. 1, c. 31. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 3, p. 4>65.) Tatian's 
discourse against the Gentiles, in which he approves marriage, 
was written before his fall. In this work he maintains also — One 
God the Creator of all things. His fall was the consequence of 
pride, which but too often attends the opinion of knowledge ; 
and of this there cannot be a more dangerous symptom in a 
scholar, than a love of novelty and singularity, especially when 



THE 355 

joined with obstinacy and opiniativeness. See Mr Butler's se- 
venth and twelfth vols, of the Lives of Saints, p. 382-3 and 
108-9. 

The Tatianites were numerous at Antioch, in Cilicia, Pisi- 
dia, and several provinces of Asia Minor. They had votaries 
even in Rome itself in France, Aquitain and Spain. 

Theobutus — After the death of St James, surnamed the Just, 
this man expected to have succeeded him ; but being disappoint- 
ed in his ambitious views, he renounced Christianity with the 
design of forming a new sect by the combination of the various 
systems of Jewish sectarists. We know nothing more of this 
ancient innovator, than that his unhallowed lust of preferment 
thus caused him to apostatize. 

Theodotus of Byzantium — by trade a tanner, having apos- 
tatized from the faith to save his life in time of persecution, 
afterwards, to palliate the crime, pretended he had denied only a 
man, not God $ maintaining Christ to be nothing more than a 
mere man, as Socinians teach at the present day : whereas, the 
Arians allowed him to have existed before this visible creation ; 
though himself, notwithstanding, a creature. Theodotus going 
to Rome, drew many into his blasphemous opinions ; for he 
was a man of parts and erudition. Pope Victor, to check the 
progress of his heresy, excommunicated his person, together 
with Ebion, Artemon, and another Theodotus who had upheld 
the same blasphemy. (St Epiph. haer. 54. Eus. 1. 5, c. 28. 
Cone. T. 1. Theodoret, Hseret. Fabul. 1. 2, c. 5.) This other 
Theodotus, called Trapezita, or the Banker, was author of the 
Melchisedecian heresy. (See that article.) 

The Theodotians, with our modern Socinians, contend, that 
the doctrine of Theodotus was maintained by the apostles them- 
selves, and that the contrary doctrine was unknown in the 
church till Zephirinus found means to corrupt the ancient faith, 
by introducing the belief of Christ's divinity. The catholics re- 
futed their pretensions by the testimony of the scriptures, by 
the hymns and canticles in use with christians from the infancy 
of the church ; by the writings of ecclesiastical authors, namely, 
St Justin, Miltiades, Ireneus, Clement of Alexandria, Melito, 
&c. who all had taught and defended the Divinity of Jesus 
Christ, &c. (Theodoret, Haer. Fab. 1. 2, c. 2. Euseb. Hist. 
Eccles, 1. 4, c. 28.) The Theodotians, by an infidelity very 
common with the broachers of new doctrines, impiously re- 
trenched from holy scripture whatever would not bear an inter- 
pretation favorable to their system. " Some of them, to save 
themselves the trouble of corrupting the sacred writings, reject- 
ed at once both the law and the prophets, under the very spe- 
cious pretext, that the grace of the gospel was all-sufficient." 

Y y 2 



356 V A L 

(Caius apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 3. 4, c. 18.) The followers of 
Theodotus were not very numerous ; and the sect itself was soon 
extinct ; while the faithful increased in numbers beyond all cal- 
culation, even in the midst of persecution and continual alarms: 
a fact which, in the estimation of all unbiassed judges, will furnish 
an additional argument in favor of the primitive and catholic 
belief. See Anti-Trinitarians, Arians, &c. under which 
articles the Divinity of the Son of God is more fully vindicated. 

Theophilanthropists — a sect which commenced during the 
Jate awful revolution in France. It had for one of its first pa- 
triarchs and warm promoters the celebrated Thomas Paine. 
They reduce religion to what they call its primitive simplicity, 
and confine it to the belief of a Divine Being ; the immortality 
of the soul ; the supposed original form of worship insinuated by 
natural religion, and prescribed to the first inhabitants of the 
earth ; and moral virtue, which they make to consist principally 
in doing good to their kind, and in promoting the interests and 
the welfare of their country. They have temples with an altar in 
the middle whereon they place their offerings — of flowers or of 
fruit, in their due season ; as testimonies of their gratitude to the 
Author of nature. Each temple, moreover, has a tribune whence 
the audience is occasionally harangued ; and these make up the 
whole of their religious ornaments. The sect is now nearly ex- 
tinct. See the article Deists, of which Theophilanthropism 
seems to be a kind of modification ; as they both concur in re- 
jecting revelation, and devising a religious system that has no 
connection with Christianity, nor any evidence of facts to re- 
commend it to its followers. 

Turlupins — were fanatics of the fourteenth century, who in 
addition to the errors of the Beguardae, of whom indeed, they 
formed a branch, practised with unblushing publicity the infa- 
mous irregularities of the Cynics. These wretches were excom- 
municated by Gregory XI. and punished with great severity by 
christian sovereigns; which, together with the horror excited by 
their execrable conduct, quickly annihilated this hateful sect. 
Prateol. Elenchus Hasres. Bernard de Luxembourg, Guguin. 
Hist. 1. 9. 



V 

Valdenses or Waldenses — were so called from Peter Valdo 
a merchant of Lyons, who, sensibly affected at the sudden deatL 






V A L 357 

of a person actually in conversation with him, distributed his ef- 
fects among the poor, and determined to imitate the apostles in 
the future method of his life. He was joined by several others ; 
and they were called " The poor men of Lyons." Soon after, 
they began to preach and teach by their own private authority, 
in imitation too, they said, of the apostles, — although they were 
but mere laymen, and destitute of missionary pow r ers. The 
clergy reproved them for this irregularity, and for affecting su- 
perstitiously to wear a kind of sandals— so contrived as to exhibit 
the bare foot to public view ; alleging, forsooth, that the apostles 
went thus shod. The pope enjoined them silence. Wanting 
however, the humility to submit, and finding that the pontiff' to 
whom some of them applied for the approbation of their insti- 
tute, rejected it as irregular and in some instances, superstitious, 
they said that the clergy were jealous of their superior sanctity 
and the purity of their morals. Nor was it long before they 
added heresy to their fanaticism and insubordination. Accord- 
ingly pope Lucius III. issued out against them a sentence of ex- 
communication. 

Rainerius, who from a minister of the Waldenses, became a 
convert to the catholic faith, and a Dominican friar in 1250, 
acquaints us that, among other errors, they affirmed, with some 
of our modern reformers, although upon different grounds, that 
the church of Christ had failed ever since the times of Pope Syl- 
vester — by possessing temporalities ; that it is unlawful for the 
clergy to have prebends or estates ; that they ought to apply 
themselves, as the apostles did, to manual labour ; that neither 
rents nor tythes ought to be paid to them, nor any thing be- 
queathed to churches : that all bishops were murderers, because 
they tolerated wars : that in no case is it lawful to swear ; and 
that a man should rather choose to die than take an oath — even 
in a court of judicature, or in any necessity whatever. All ec- 
clesiastic judgments they absolutely reprobated, including in 
this censure all judges and princes — upon the maxim, that it is 
never lawful to punish malefactors, or to put any man to death. 
They denied purgatory, and rejected prayer for the dead, in- 
dulgences, the celebration of all festivals whatever, even that of 
Easter ; ak«o the invocation of saints and veneration of images, 
crosses or relics. They maintained, that neither absolution 
nor any other sacrament is valid — when administered by 
a, bad priest : but that any good laic has power to remit sins, 
and to confer the Holy Ghost by the imposition of hands. The 
exorcisms, benedictions and sureties in baptism, they set aside, 
and held that the washing of infants in that sacrament, did not 
avail them. With regard to the most blessed eucharist, they 
said that priests in mortal sin cannot consecrate, and that tran- 
substantiation is not effected in the hands of him who conse- 
crates unworthily, but in the mouth of him who worthily re- 



358 V A L 

ceives. They rejected also the canon of the mass, reciting in 
the vulgar tongue only the words of consecration, &c. 

The Waldenses had subsisted chiefly in certain valleys of 
Piedmont, till in 1530, GEcolampadius and the Sacramentarians 
of Switzerland offered them terms of accommodation, but without 
effect. Six years after this, Farel and other Calvinistic minis- 
ters, by representing to them that their temporal security re- 
quired it, prevailed with them to purchase the desired union by 
the relinquishment of several errors which that sect had hitherto 
maintained, and to acknowledge that a christian might some- 
times lawfully swear before a magistrate ; also, that the ministers 
of the altar might possess temporal estates ; and that even wick- 
ed priests validly confer the sacraments. They likewise engaged 
them to maintain in contradiction to their former belief, that 
the body of Christ is not in the eucharist, and that it is not 
necessary to confess our sins. Most of the Waldenses, notwith- 
standing, adhered to their own principles — till in 1630 they 
were compelled, for protection, to receive among them Calvin- 
istic teachers. (See Bossuet, Hist. Variat. 1. 1 1. De Marca's 
History of Beam. Fleury, 1. 73, n. 12. F. Fontenai, in the 
9th, 10th, and 11th tomes of the Continuation of F. Langue- 
vaPs Church History of France; and the late History of Lan- 
guedoc.) 

We have refuted the errors of the Waldenses under the ar- 
ticles Vigilantius, Donatists, Iconoclasts ; to which we beg 
leave to refer our readers. The peculiar error of this sect, 
which consisted in denying to the church the lawful possession 
of temporalities, merits not a serious discussion. Nevertheless, 
we will just beg leave to trespass a few moments upon the atten- 
tion of our readers, and make some obvious remarks upon this 
subject. 

According to the principles of natural equity every public 
functionary, of whatever description may be the functions with 
which he is entrusted, has a right to his subsistence ; such ever 
was, and is at this day, the universal maxim prevalent in all na- 
tions, and established in the legislature of every commonwealth. 
Consequently, the revenues assigned by the church and state for 
the support of the clergy, are not of the nature of a gratuitous 
contribution, or merely an alms : they are a salary ; a retribu* 
tion ; an honorary stipend for services to which they are in rigor- 
ous justice and strict equity obliged. Now every obligation of 
justice being reciprocal, it is difficult to conceive — how the public 
should be exempt from that of providing for the maintenance of 
those who serve it : it is on both sides a duty of justice, and not 
of charity : and however the mode of securing a competent re- 
venue to ecclesiastics may vary according to circumstances, — 
whether it be raised by tithe or from funds legally established 
for the purpose, or otherwise, is immaterial : this does not in the 



V A L 359 

smallest degree affect their natural and unalienable right. On 
this point as on every other regulation of discipline, regard is had 
to the particular exigences of the times, the vicissitudes of the 
state, or the wants or inconveniences of the community. In vain 
is it objected — that Jesus Christ commanded his apostles to exer- 
cise their ministry gratis : he gives them at the same time a 
right to their subsistence. To sell what is spiritual or to exact 
for it any thing temporal as its price, is profanation ; it is the 
crime of simony : but an honorable maintenance, retribution or 
salary accorded to a person occupied in the discharge of any 
function, is neither the price nor the equivalent of this function : 
the price is relative to the value of a thing ; whereas an honorary 
stipendium is attached to the place which a person fills, and to 
the person of the functionary : it is the same for all that exercise 
the function, however unequal may be their personal merit, their 
talents or their services. A physician cannot with propriety be 
said to traffic in health, nor a magistrate to trade injustice ; al- 
though such notions are but too common with the vulgar, and 
with men of little sense. Their stupidity, very fortunately for 
these respectable departments of the commonwealth, cannot af- 
fect the essence of the thing. (Bergier Dictionaire Theolog.) 

The Waldenses in adopting the religious tenets, adopted also 
the turbulent and seditious spirit of their new teachers. When- 
ever they conceived the interests of their sect required it, they 
rose in arms against their lawful sovereigns, and often stained 
their hands in the blood of those who charitably wished to un- 
deceive them. We do not advocate what is termed religious 
persecution. The inhuman principle is equally foreign to the doc- 
trines and to the civil well-being of catholics. But we are free 
to say, that if, under the pretence of piety and religion — insur- 
rection and rebellion be countenanced, superiors do right in se- 
verely punishing and vigorously repressing the upholders of te- 
nets so notoriously destructive of the public peace. If the Wal- 
denses could be proved to have been guiltless of the charges 
alleged against them, their sufferings must be ascribed to the ma- 
lice of the actors, however dignified in church or state — not to the 
pretended intolerance of that religion which has ever been averse 
from bloodshed. But the calumnies of its adversaries and the 
wilful misreprentations of many protestant writers, are in no in- 
stance more strikingly recognisable to persons of any reading or 
sincerity, than on this topic. They descant incessantly upon po- 
pish massacres, imaginary persecutions of the church of Rome, 
and the bloody reign of Queen Mary : but they forget the out- 
rageous insults and provocations, the traiterous disloyalty and 
violent conduct of the party which became the object of persecu- 
tion. The Gunpowder Plot in which a few miscreants of despe- 
rate fortunes and abandoned morals, unconnected with the ca- 
tholic body, and execrated for the attempt by every individual 



360 V A L 

catholic subject in Great Britain, were unfortunately engaged, 

must be for ever objected by the ignorance or the malice of con- 
troversial authors, or rather of the collective bigotry of the na- 
tion at large, as an eternal infamy to the religion of our ances- 
tors ; while the more successful, but not less nefarious plot of the 
very same description, planned and conducted solely by Scotch 
reformers, and by many of their leading characters, with every 
circumstance that could possibly conduce to make the crime most 
awfully flagitious, is hushed into oblivion, and sanctified by the 
holy zealotism of its perpetrators. The relentless tyranny of 
Queen Elizabeth in persecuting her unoffending catholic subjects 
merely for religion, is hardly ever noticed by our English historians. 
But these partial writers will not suffer their readers to be ignorant 
of the tyrannical cruelty of the Duke of Alva — equally repro- 
bated by catholics and protestants — though they are careful not 
to mention the re-iterated conspiracies of the reformed to take 
away his life ; or the still greater cruelties practised upon catho- 
lics by the two more infamous ruffians Vandermerk and Sonoi, 
both of them lieutenants to the Prince of Orange. " A cele- 
brated biographer (Feller, Hist. Abreg. torn. 1, art. Toledo) 
says, that Vandermerk slaughtered more inoffensive catholic 
priests and peasants in the year 1572, than Alva executed pro- 
testants during the whole term of his sanguinary government.' 
He gives us in the same place a copious extract from l'Abrege 
de l'Hist. del'Holland, par Mons. Kerroux, in which this protes- 
tant author, who professes to write from judicial records still 
extant, draws a most frightful picture of the infernal barbarities 
of Sonoi on the catholic peasantry of North Holland. He says, 
that some of these, after undergoing the torment of scourges 
and the rack, were enveloped in sheets of linen, steeped in 
spirits of wine, which being inflamed, the poor creatures were 
miserably scorched to death ; that others, after being tortured 
with burning sulphur and torches applied to the tenderest parts of 
their bodies, were caused to die for want of sleep, guards being- 
placed over them to beat and torment them with clubs and 
other weapons — whenever exhausted nature seemed to sink into 
forgetfulness : — that many were fed with nothing but salt her- 
rings — without a drop of water or other liquid — until they ex- 
pired with thirst -, finally, that others were stung to death by 
wasps, or devoured alive by rats, confined in coffins with them 
for that inhuman purpose. Among the cruelties there recount- 
ed, some will not bear repeating, and those just mentioned are 
adduced with the intent only, of forcing our much prejudiced 
opponents to join with us in consigning the odious names of 
such as Alva, Vandermerk and Sonoi, to merited execration, 
or rather, if possible, to absolute oblivion." See Miluer's 4tk 
Letter to Dr S. on Persecution. 



V A L 361 

Valentinus — a Platonic philosopher, had embraced Christi- 
anity ; but being puffed up with the vain opinion of his own 
learning and superior merit, and seeing another preferred to a 
certain bishopric before him, revived the errors of Simon Magus, 
and adopted many other absurd fictions concerning the progeny 
of thirty ceones or ages — an imaginary kind of inferior deities 
which this heretic pretended to have been produced by the eter- 
nal, invisible and incomprehensible God called BrJo? or Depth, 
and his wife Ewot* or Thought, otherwise named 2<yji or Silence. 
These chimeras he had borrowed from Hesiod's book of the 
genealogy of the heathen Gods, and some Platonic notions, blend- 
ed with certain truths from the gospel of St John. His whimsi- 
cal dreams St Ireneus refutes by scriptural authority ; by the 
apostles' creed, of which he mentions almost all the articles ; 
and by the unanimity of all churches in the profession of the 
same faith, contrasted with the perpetual disagreement of the 
sectaries among themselves : for there was not a disciple of Va- 
lentinus, who did not undertake to alter and reform his master's 
doctrine. Several of their variations he mentions, and describes 
at length the superstitions and impostures of the heresiarch 
Mark, who in consecrating chalices filled with water and wine 
according to the Christian rite, made the chalices appear full of 
a certain red liquor which he called blood, and allosved women 
to consecrate the holy mysteries. Heretics, he says, have no- 
thing but the novelty of their doctrine to recommend them : for 
the Valentinians were not before Valentinus, nor the Marcionites 
before Marcion, &c. All these arose much too late to be the 
teachers of the truth. " Their novelty alone, continues he, 
suffices to confound them." How much more forcibly will this 
apply against all modern sectarists. 

Valentinus first broached his heresy in Cyprus, and afterwards 
propagated it in Italy and Gaul. He was excommunicated by 
the holy pope St Pius I. (St Epiph. haer. 41. Tertull. 1. contr. 
Valent. Iren. Ogdoad, &c.) 

Valesians — the deluded followers of one Valesius. This 
man, more zealous than discreet, in order to avoid temptation 
made himself an eunuch ; in which action he was imitated by 
many others of similar dispositions with himself. These enthu- 
siasts deemed all those to be in the way of perdition and enslaved 
to vice, who were not yet disposed to follow their example. 
They were excommunicated, and retired into a province of 
Arabia. 

As the gospel directs all christians to study to procure the sal- 
vation of their neighbour, the Valesians conceived that this obli- 
gation could not be more effectually complied with, than by re- 
ducing other people when they had it in their power, to the same 
fetate in which they were themselves; and in case their exhorta- 

z z 



562 V I G 

tions had not the desired effect, they thought it a sacred duty of 
charity to offer violence to their delicacy, and to do for them by 
compulsion what they had not resolution enough to have done 
by choice;, esteeming them as sick persons who in their delirium 
reject the remedies essential to their cure. Hence they did not 
•fail to perform the operation indiscriminately upon all that came 
within the precincts of their district ; and nothing was so terri- 
fying to travellers as the idea of falling in with these religious ruf- 
fians. This circumstance may account for what St Epiphanius 
remarks concerning them; that they were much talked of, but 
little known. (Haer. 56.) It was on their account that the coun- 
cil of Nice decreed in its ninth canon* that those shall not be ad- 
mitted among the clergy who mutilate themselves- (Cone. Nicaen. 
Collect. Cone. Hist, du Cone, de Nicee in oct. un. vol.) In 
these fanatics we may behold another early example among so 
many striking instances of a similar nature, — of the fallacy of the 
protestant maxim — that scripture interpreted by private sense is 
the only rule of faith I 

Vigilantius— a priest of Barcelona, who depreciated the 
merit of virginity, and condemned the veneration of relics — 
calling those who paid it idolaters and Cinerarians — or worship- 
pers of ashes. St Jerom undertook the refutation of so foul a 
charge, and said : " We do not adore the relics of the martyrs 
.... but we honor them, and adore Him whose martyrs they 
are. We honor the servants, that the respect which is rendered 
unto them may be reflected back upon the Lord." Having ob- 
tained a copy of Vigilantius's performance, he lost no time in 
answering his exceptions ; shewing first, the excellency of vir- 
ginity and clerical celibacy, from the discipline observed in the 
three patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. He then 
proceeds to vindicate the honor paid to martyrs from the impu- 
tation of idolatry, by observing, that no christian ever worship- 
ped them as gods. In order to show that the saints in heaven 
pray for us, St Jerom argues thus : " If the apostles and 
martyrs still living upon earth could pray for other men, how- 
much more effectually may they do it after their victories ? 
Have they less power now they are with Jesus Christ ?" St 
Jerom lays much stress on the miracles wrought at their tombs ; 
though Vigilantius, admitting the notoriety of the fact, pretend- 
ed they were wrought for the sake of the infidels. This suppo- 
sition, in the opinion of St Jerom, would not disprove the power 
of the martyrs, by whose intercession they were obtained. He 
mentions that the bishops of Rome were accustomed to offer 
sacrifices to God over the venerable bones of SS Peter and Paul, 
and made altars of their tombs. He tells his adversary, that if 
his new doctrine were true, all the bishops of the world, who 
follow it, must be, forsooth, in error ! Nor will the silly objec- 



V I G $62 

tion of many protestants be found to have any weight in the 
scales of sound theology. They ask with an air of triumph, — 
how the saints in heaven can hear at such a distance the silent 
whispers of their votaries ? When these wise critics shall first 
have answered the following question: — what precisely is the 
distance beyond which the saints and angels cannot hear each 
other ? Catholics may reply, that distance has nothing to do 
with intellectual language, such as, we presume, the inhabitants 
of the upper world perfectly understand. If this fall short of 
satisfying their curiosity, we will then acknowledge that we don't 
exactly know — in what manner our thoughts or fervent desires 
are communicated to the happy ones above ; but have faith 
enough to believe St John, who expressly asserts in his Revela- 
tions (c, 5) that the twenty-four ancients falling down before the 
throne of God, offer up to him the prayers of the saints ; — faith 
and simplicity enough to listen to the church which Christ him- 
self has commanded all to hear, (Matt. 16) when it decides that 
it is lawful to invocate the saints and angels, and that they inter- 
cede for those who piously invoke them. But our adversaries 
still insist, that Christ alone is our mediator. Christ, most cer- 
tainly, is our only mediator of redemption, notour only media- 
tor of intercession ; else what did the apostle St Paul mean in 
recommending himself so earnestly to the prayers of those to 
whom he wrote ? It is in fact a doctrine insinuated in number- 
less passages of both the Old and New Testament; plainly 
taught and practised by all christian antiquity ; authorised by 
the reiterated decisions of ecumenical councils, and defended by 
all the most illustrious fathers and doctors of the church. 
Where then is the pretended idolatry or absurdity of this catho- 
Hc and venerably ancient practice ? Many of the most distin- 
guished prelates, and the best informed writers in the ranks of 
protestantism, have generously vindicated catholics from the 
groundless charge of idolatry. Such, for instance, were — Bishop 
Montague, (On the Invocation of Saints); Parker (Disc, for the 
Abrogation of the Test) ; Thorndike (Just Weights and Mea- 
sures), &c. The last mentioned protestant theologian says : 
" Let not those who charge the pope to be antichrist, and the 
papists idolaters, lead the people by the nose to believe, that 
they can prove their supposition — when they cannot." Nume- 
rous, however, and — unfortunately for the innocent sufferers — 
high in political as well as in ecclesiastic influence, is this un- 
feeling class of calumniators, and mischievous beyond calcula- 
tion to the community at large — in a civil not less than religious 
view. It is not our intention to specify the numberless incon- 
veniences resulting in this two-fold light from their slanderous 
aspersions. We will only beg leave to express our fervent hopes 
of a speedy revolution in the sentiments of our protestant bre • 
thren, as fellow-men and fellow-christians. 

xz2 



364 V I G 

Vigilantius, and with him, all protestants in general, are equally 
displeased at the religious honor, which catholics think due to the 
mortal remains of deceased saints. It is a maxim engrafted in 
our very nature, and most congenial with true sentiments of reli- 
gion. Did not Moses, impressed with these sentiments, carry 
with him out of Egypt the bones of the patriarch Joseph ? That 
respect which the pious king Josias testified for the bodies of the 
prophets, and the miracles which Holy Scripture assures us were 
performed by the touch of the sacred bones of Eliseus, and the 
garments of St Pad, ought abundantly to justify the veneration 
of catholics for the relics of the saints. It was universally esta- 
blished throughout the whole christian church — when Vigilantius 
thought proper to arraign it ; as St Jerom expressly informs us. 
Doubtless there may exist abuses in the manner, or in the mea- 
sure, of this otherwise legitimate veneration ; and, very possibly, 
these might be greater previously to the reformation than at pre- 
sent. But such abuses were never sanctioned by the church, 
and therefore could not — with the smallest plausibility — be al- 
leged as a lawful subject of separation from her communion. 
M. Basnage and other cavillers of the same description, always 
test their plea upon a supposition notoriously false ; namely, 
that the catholics render to the saints and to their relics — a 
species of religious worship similar to that which is due to God 
alone. Nothing can be more disingenuous, more uncandid, or 
more remote from truth. We honor God with supreme and 
sovereign honor ; the saints and angels, with an inferior and su- 
bordinate respect— different from the former, as is that which is 
finite from infinitude ; — as that which is essentially dependent, 
from what is self-sufficient and absolutely independent. We apply 
indeed, through the poverty of our language, the same phrases 
in a sense widely different — without the danger of being mis- 
understood by any but by those who are totally unacquainted with 
our doctrines: and do not protestants themselves teach their 
children to ask their father's blessing upon their bended knees, 
in the same words precisely which they address to Almighty 
God — Father bless me, God bless me, without incurring the peril 
of idolatry ? 

Another point at issue between Vigilantius and St Jerom, 
was the celibacy of churchmen. With Vigilantius, the church 
of England and protestants in general declare against it. " It is," 
las Dr Hawarden rightly observes, " a matter of mere discipline 
only: and though by no means a sufficient plea for any to for- 
sake the catholic communion; — yet if all other controversies 
were compromised between us, there is every reason to believe, 
that the church would condescend to wave such points of mere 
discipline, as still might be a bar to a reconciliation so much to 
be desired by all good and unbiassed christians. The clergy, 
without trespassing upon faith, might be allowed to marry ; the 



TIG $65 

laity to receive the chalice and to have all the liturgy of the church 
in English. The intemperance of churchmen, although it was 
not the first pretence, was probably one of the first causes of the 
reformation. And had it been as easy to keep religious vows, 
as it was to break them, there would have been no more different 
religions in England at present, than there were three hundred 
years ago. But when monks took wives and nunneries were 
set open, the fact, of course, was to be justified ; and He or 
She that found celibacy a restraint, was happy to throw over 
broken vows the hallowed veil of matrimony. 

Csnjugium vocat: hoc prsetexit nomine culpam. 

Here conscience was to be taught a new lesson : sacrilege 
must be made a virtue, and continence, if not a downright sin, 
at least a dangerous imperfection. The old religion was too old 
to be good ; and presently it had a thousand faults. Thus the 
schism began; and though it be not yet three hundred years of 
age, the circumstance is hardly known to one-ninth part of the 
nation at large ; and every new religion is pretended to be as old 
as Christ. But — more immediately to our present purpose — 

" It is undoubtedly the doctrine of St Paul (i Cor. vii.) that a 
single life is of itself a more perfect state, and more becoming 
the clergy, than that of matrimony. He that is without a wife, 
is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may 
please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the 
things of the world, how he may please his wife. The same 
difference he makes between a wife and one in the state of vir- 
ginity. Whence he concludes: He thai giveth his virgin in 
marriage doeih well ,- but he that giveth her not doeth better. In 
effect, if the laity are advised by St Paul to abstain, at least for 
a while, from the rights of matrimony, that you may give your- 
selves, saith he, to fasting and praying ; is it not very suitable 
with the office of celebrating daily the holy mysteries of our divine 
religion, and offering up prayers for themselves and the people, 
to think of no other nuptials but those of the Lamb ? It is the 
argument of St Epiphanins (Heer. 59), of St Jerom (1. cont. 
Jovin. c. 19), of St Augustine (Tr. 9, in Joan.) &c." 

" To this we may add the authority of the church in the case 
of Jovinian, whom St Jerom calls the Christia7i Epicure. His 
opinion was, that there is no more merit in a single life, than in 
conjugal chastity. Fie urged the same texts of scripture which 
are commonly alleged against the obligation of religious vows, and 
the celibacy of priests. The reformation might have commenced 
here, had it not then been a plant out of season : like a winter 
flower, it was presently blasted. Jovinian was excommunicated ; 
and his heresy was condemned by a council at Rome under pope 
Siricius, and by St Ambrose in a council at Milan ; and it was 



366 V I G 

refuted by the writings of the last mentioned holy prelate, St 
Jerom and St Augustine. (S. Aug. 1. de Hasr. c. 82. S. Amb. 
Epist. 6, 7, 25. ed Par. 1603 & 1. de Virg. S. Hier. lib. duob. 
cont. Jovin. S. Aug. 1. de Bono Conjugal. & de Sancta Virginit.) 
And because Jovinian seduced ignorant virgins by saying — Are 
you better than Abraham, Sarah, &c. ? St Augustine bade them 
answer, I am not better than Abraham ; but the chastity of a 
single life is better than the chastity of marriage ; and better, as 
he says, in order to the kingdom of heaven" (1. de Bon. Conj. c. 
28. & de Sancta Virginit. c. 14, 23.) 

" Nor was it ever the practice either of the Latin or the Greek 
church, for bishops or priests to marry after their ordination ; not- 
withstanding the mistakes of some few writers asserting the con- 
trary. They were all under age, says Dr Hawarden, and there- 
fore illegal witnesses of what passed in the primitive times ; and 
they do not affirm it of their own. Socrates indeed, says, that 
the holy bishop Paphnutius dissuaded the council of Nice from 
obliging bishops, priests and deacons (Sozomen adds — sub-dea- 
cons) to live separate from their wives, though previously en- 
gaged in wedlock. For at that time priests and bishops were ordain- 
ed in some measure by compulsion ; and in such case it certainly 
would have been rather hard, as well for themselves as for their 
wives, to be tied to perpetual continency. Both these cases had 
so much difficulty attending them, that the council was equally 
to be commended for its zeal in promoting clerical perfection, 
and for superseding the decree at that time — upon the just re- 
monstrance of St Paphnutius. But now — when none are com- 
pelled to be either bishops or priests, or to enter among the 
clergy at all ; and such only are ordained as are esteemed vir- 
tuous, and are willing to follow the advice of St Paul ( 1 Cor. vii. 
7.) — of living as he did in perpetual celibacy, why may not the 
church be allowed to prefer them before all others ; and as long 
as there is no want of more, promote them exclusively ? —Be- 
sides, if Socrates may be credited, the above advice which the 
council followed, had this limitation, that such as entered among 
the clergy unmarried, should always remain single, according to the 
ancient tradition of the church." 

" Moreover, the breach of religious vows is evidently in de- 
spight both of reason and the Word of God. A vow is a religious 
promise made to God — of a greater good ; that is, of something 
which is better to be done than left undone. Now if it be against 
reason to break our faith with man, how much more so with Al- 
mighty God ? When thou shall vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, 
thou shall not slack to pay it. For the Lord thy God will surely 
require it of thee ; and it would be sin in thee not to comply. 
(Deut. xxiii. v. 21, &c.) Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, 
than thou shouldst vow and riot pay. (Eccles. v. v. 4.) Hence 
St Augustine (1. de Bono Viduit.) says : " I am not afraid to as- 



V I G 367 

sert, that falling from chastity vowed to God, is worse than adul- 
tery. For if it be a sin, as most certainly it is, for a woman that 
is a member of Christ, not to be true to her husband ; how 
much more is Christ offended, when the promise is not kept to 
Himself? In effect, although God did not require the promise, 
he strictly requires the performance. For when a counsel, not a 
precept, is the matter of a vow, if it be not performed, the iniqui- 
ty is greater in proportion as the necessity of making the vow was 
less." What then would this great saint have thought of the 
reformation, built as it is, upon the ruins of above ten thousand 
broken vows ?" 

" St Paul, indeed, gives directions — how a bishop ought to go- 
vern his children, (1 Tim. iii. v. 4.) For bishops in the primi- 
tive church were often widowers. But, for the government of 
the wife, he has left none ; and if he had, it would be little to 
our present purpose. For in the times of the apostles both 
bishops and priests who had wives, lived as if they had none. 
Not that it was absolutely commanded either by Christ or his apos- 
tles ; but because it was more becoming their sacred office ; and the 
apostles themselves first set them the example, " who," St Jerom 
assures us (ep. 50) " were either virgins" when called to the 
apostleship, " or had no more to do with their wives" subse- 
quently to their vocation. " Bishops, priests and deacons are 
either chosen virgins or widowers, or at least remain continent 
after priesthood, as long as they live." Thus St Jerom ; and, 
before him, St Cyril of Jerusalem argues in the manner follow- 
ing : (Cat. 12) " If he that bears well the priestly character in 
Christ, abstains from the use of matrimony ; how could Christ 
himself derive his sacred birth from matrimony ?" St Epipha- 
nius observes (haer. 59) that " the person who continues to live 
as a husband with his wife, although he have but one, is not 
admitted by the church to the order of deacon, priest, bishop 
or sub-deacon, unless he ceases to converse with her as a hus- 
band." Origen too, was of opinion " that none are fit to offer 
continual sacrifice to Christ, who have not consecrated them- 
selves to perpetual chastity." (Horn. 23 in Numeros.) It 
would be endless to enumerate all the authorities of the fathers, 
and ancient ecclesiastic writers, attesting and recommending 
this venerable rule of primitive discipline and practice. 

" But is not marriage honorable in all P In due circumstances 
it is ; not in cases where marriage would be sinful, sacrilegious 
and null. Is marriage with a father or mother very honorable ? 
But, did not St Paul exhort every man to have his own wife, 
and every woman to have her own husband, in order to avoid 
fornication? (1 Cor. vii. 2.) Yes; but the same apostle, in 
the very same chapter (v.- 27) likewise says : Art thou loosed from a 
wife? seek not a wife. Why did Christ (Matt. xix. 12) exhort 
christians to a single life ? Certainly, to dissuade them from 



368 UNI 

the necessary means of avoiding intemperance, -was a tiling alto- 
gether repugnant to his sanctity. Therefore, in die judgment 
of Christ himself, marriage is not the only preservative of virtue." 
See more upon the subject in Dr Hawarden's Church of Christ, 
whence the above remarks are taken ; also in Milner's iii. Letter 
to Dr Sturges, or in any other catholic polemic who has under- 
taken to discuss this topic. 



U 

Unitarians. See Antitrinitarians. 

Universalists — are those that hold out universal salvation 
to all mankind indiscriminately, and even to the wicked spirits 
themselves — after undergoing a sharpish kind of purgatory in the 
other world. Their system certainly would appear highly chari- 
table, were it not subversive of scripture doctrine and christian 
revelation. But, unfortunately, it has been long ago discarded 
in the universal church as equally inconsistent with both, and at 
a very early period of Christianity anathematized as erroneous 
and heretical. Its votaries fail not to urge in favor of the scheme 
some specious arguments and ingenious conceits, well calculated 
to stagger the credulity of the ignorant and the weak in faith ; 
but those that listen to the precepts of Jesus Christ, ordering 
them to hear the church, and to believe its pastors in the defini- 
tion of doctrinal truths, — have a safer guide than human reason, 
even the Spirit of truth itself, to preserve them from pernicious 
errors. 

Of Universalists there are various descriptions ; but all agree 
in the leading, or rather the only fundamental doctrine of the 
sect, which is the final restoration of all without exception, even 
the fallen angels, to eternal happiness. The Rcltyan Universalists, 
so called from a Mr Relly formerly a Calvinistic Methodist 
preacher, with the Quakers reject baptism, and will have nothing 
to do with ceremonial ordinances. They maintain, that no 
works are necessary but the doing of good, and relieving the 
miseries and distresses of their fellow creatures — without regard 
to any particular religious injunction or revelation. Thus the 
author, after a variety of experiences or supposed convictions of 
the truth of his first religious creed — by a contradictory inspira- 
tion — exchanged the odious extreme of rigorism for the opposite, 
though more agreeable, extreme of anti-scriptural indulgence 
and good nature. Happy indeed 5 — thrice happy tidings for old 



W I C 369 

Lucifer and his sable adherents, were this new Evangelists latter 
conceits more infallible than his former experiences I 

Ubiquitarians, or Ubiquists — were Lutherans who main- 
tained, that in consequence of the hypostatic union of the hu- 
manity of Christ with the Divinity, his sacred body must, of 
course, be every where together with his Divinity. The Sacra- 
mentarians held opinions widely different with relation to the 
eucharist ; the latter rejected the doctrine of the real presence, 
because they could not conceive— how a body should exist in 
divers places at the same time ; while the Ubiquitarians, on the 
contrary, attempted to demonstrate, that the humanity of Jesus 
Christ being united to the word, must necessarily be in all places 
together with the word. Melancthon rightly observed, that this 
idea tended to confound the two natures of Jesus Christ, as it 
implied — not only that his humanity, but that even his sacred 
body was immense 5 and that it quite destroyed the mystery of 
the eucharist, by depriving it of whatever was peculiar to itself; 
since in this hypothesis Jesus Christ, as man, would be equally 
present in a piece of wood, or in a stone. 



W 

Wickliffites — the followers of John Wycliffe, a native of 
the village of that name in Yorkshire. In his theological lec- 
tures, his sermons, and his writings, he inveighed bitterly 
against the Roman pontiff, who had approved a sentence of the 
archbishop of Canterbury to his disadvantage. He repeated 
whatever had at any time been alleged against the pope's power 
or his riches, attacked his authority even in things purely spi- 
ritual, and pretended to recognise many fundamental errors in 
his doctrine. From the clergy he could expect no countenance. 
He therefore contested their privileges, and endeavoured to 
bring them into disrepute with the laity. There existed some 
abuses in the collation of benefices upon strangers, the undue 
interference of Trans- Alpine authority, and certain other griev- 
ances of smaller moment. These Wickliff hailed as favorable 
circumstances, which would greatly facilitate his darling project 
of severing England from the church of Rome. In this design 
he was seconded by the Lollards, who had acquired importance 
in our island, and now became zealous advocates and coadjutors 
of Wickliff in so laudable an enterprise. See their article. 

The anarchy, the fanaticism, and the outrageous conduct of 
the Hussites and the Anabaptists were the natural result of 

3 A 



570 wie 

WicklifPs doctrine, which they imbibed from his irreligious, 
and not less seditious, writings. After declaiming immoderately 
against the popes — in some things, doubtless, very blame- 
worthy, else they must have been more than men; — after 
falling foul upon religious orders, and descanting against the 
riches of the clergy, he proceeds to deny the efficacy of the 
sacraments. Confession, he says, is a useless ceremony ; and, 
with transubstantiation he will have nothing to do. He renews 
the error of Berengarius, or rather of his disciples ; and with 
them rejects the real presence of our Blessed Saviour in the 
eucharist. He will not allow the extreme unction to be a sacra- 
ment, and maintains that — whoever is in the state of mortal sin, 
lias forfeited all right to any property whatever. Tithes, ac- 
cording to him, no man can in conscience pay to any wicked 
minister ; over whom he establishes the laity themselves judges, 
and exhorts them not to stand in awe of ecclesiastic censures. 
A father who perseveres in justice until death, cannot, forsooth, 
transfer an inheritance to his son, unless he also merits for him 
the grace of living holily. Kings, and popes, and bishops, if 
guilty of a single mortal sin, are equally to be despoiled of all 
their rights and prerogatives. Prelates, he declares, have no- 
thing but an imaginary jurisdiction over the rest of the faithful. 
All men are, in his ideas, on the level of perfect equality; and 
all ought to enjoy an equal participation in the blessings of na- 
ture. All this he repeats in his treatise Of the Devil, in hi* 
book On Heaven, and in that Of Confession, With Abelard, 
he teaches optimism, and fatalism with the Predestinarians 
and the first reformers ; nor were his ideas of indulgences more 
orthodox, or his exceptions against praying for the dead. 

Wickliff had a multitude of votaries in England ; the clergy 
in order effectually to check the progress of his errors, repeated- 
ly condemned his doctrine ; and the university of Oxford having 
examined his writings, extracted from them two hundred and 
seventy -eight propositions, which it deemed worthy of ecclessiastic 
censure, and caused to be presented to the archbishop of Canter- 
bury. From this collection we have borrowed the scanty sum- 
mary of part of Wickliff 's erroneous tenets, most of them adopt- 
ed by the Hussites, Anabaptists, &c. Indeed, they were so well 
accommodated to the various inclinations of vast numbers of tepid 
christians at the time, and so favorable to the general spread of 
disaffection tor the pope, the clerical body, and the religious, 
that it is not matter of surprise he should have had his followers. 
The clergy were not indifferent to their progress, and procured 
severe measures to be adopted against both Wickliffites and Lol- 
lards indiscriminately. They found, however, many powerful 
protectors ; and the house of commons in 1404 presented an ad- 
dress to the king — praying him to make a seizure of the revenues 
of the clergy ; with which unreasonable requisition he thought 



W I C 371 

itot proper to comply. A similar address was repeated in 1410. 
It met with no encouragement ; on the contrary, his majesty 
forbade the commons any more to interfere in clerical concerns, 
and when they afterwards demanded the revocation or at least a 
mitigation of the statute against the Wickliffites and the Lol- 
lards, he remained inflexible, and even caused a sectarist of the 
latter description to be executed while parliament was actually 
sitting. Henry V. was equally severe in regard of the Lollards, 
although he did not eventually succeed in compassing the de- 
struction of that sect, or the suppression of the Wickliffites. 
They silently gained ground, and made many proselytes in the 
house of parliament itself; a circumstance which contributed 
not a little to prepare the way for the schism under Henry VIII. 
When the Hussites were put down, the impression which the 
doctrines of Wickliff had left upon the minds of the ignorant 
and the ill disposed, did not so easily wear out ; and these doc- 
trines produced the various sects of Anabaptists: who filled the 
provinces of Germany with desolation, when once the daring 
Luther had erected the standard of revolt against the catholic 
church. 

The Wickliffian errors concerning the real presence of Christ 
in the eucharist, we have refuted under the article Berengarius ; 
his heterodox opinions regarding prayer for the dead, the cere- 
monies of the church, the sacrament of order, and the superiority 
of bishops, under that of Aerius; his system of optimism, under 
that of Abelard ; his ideas of indulgences, under that immediately 
following. His exceptions against confession have been renewed 
by the Calvinists who pretend, that the obligation of confession 
originated only with the council of Lateran in 1215 under Inno- 
cent III. On the other hand a host of learned catholic divines 
have proved, that sacramental confession of sins — not only in 
general and in particular, but of sins, too, committed in secret as 
well as in public, was in practice at all times even from the very 
birth of Christianity ; that it is of divine institution, and strictly 
obligatory by divine right. (See Nat. Alex. cont. Dalleum. 
Sainte Marthe, traite de la Confession, &c. &c.) Among 
others the great Bossuet observes, that " the terms of the com- 
mission given to the ministers of the church, to absolve sinners, 
are so general, that it cannot without temerity be restricted to 
public crimes ; and as in pronouncing absolution in the name of 
Jesus Christ, they apply only the express terms of this commission, 
Jesus Christ himself may with truth be said to pronounce the 
sentence, while those pass judgment whom he has appointed 
judges in this instance : and while the priest is exercising the 
outward ministry, it is in fact our invisible High Priest — that in- 
wardly absolves the penitent. This sacred tribunal being, as it 
really is, so necessary a check upon licentiousness, so fertile a 
source of good counsel, a consolation so cheering to the truly 

3 a2 



512 Z U I 

repenting and afflicted soul — when she hears — not a mere decla- 
ration in general terms — of pardon for her crimes, as is practised 
by some among the reformed ministers ; but an effectual absolu- 
tion pronounced in her favor in the name and by the authority 
of Jesus Christ, after a particular examination, and careful cog- 
nisance of her state ;" — let not that Jewish question, formerly 
objected against our Lord himself, — Who is this that even for- 
giveth sins ? (Luke vii. 49.) and — Who can forgive sins, but 
God alone ? (Mark ii. 7.) have any weight with christians; for 
Christ has said: whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven un- 
to them, and "whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. 
(John xx. 23.) 

Wickliffs charitable wish to rid the clergy of their property 
was not a new conceit : the Albigenses who before him had ar- 
dently coveted their possessions, had found none more zealous 
supporters of the measure, than were certain usurers and some 
avaricious noblemen. These made a much worse use of their 
power and their riches than the clergy, in oppressing and tyran- 
nizing over their vassals. We often hear repeated these thread- 
bare declamations against ecclesiastics ; but rarely, very rarely 
indeed, from the mouth of men of sense, — from the disinterested, 
the modest and the charitable. See on this point the article 
Waldenses. 



Zuinglians — adopted the tenets of one Zuinglius, curate from 
the year 1506 to 1531, first of Glaris, afterwards of a consi- 
derable borough in Switzerland. About the same time that Lu- 
ther began to preach against indulgences in Germany, Zuinglius 
also, exerted his zeal in the same way among the Swiss. Like 
the former, he was scandalized at the abuses which he saw prac- 
tised by some of the papal commissioners in the collection of alms. 
From the abuses committed by the collectors, he soon converted 
his attention to the indulgences themselves, which he condemned 
with no less vehemence than the German reformer ; and, together 
with indulgences, Zuinglius rejected the veneration paid by the 
catholic church to the saints and angels, — monastic vows, — the 
celibacy of the clergy, — the mass, — the Lenten fast, &c. 

The reform which Zuinglius introduced in Switzerland, soon 
became widely diffused. Many leading men of the new religion 
seconded his efforts—at Berne, at Basil, at Constance, and ia 
other places. However, several of the Swiss cantons still remain- 
ed attached to the catholic doctrine, and reprobated the innova* 



Z U I 373 

tions adopted by their fellow cantons. Both parties were much 
incensed against each other ; and at length they mutually pro- 
claimed open war. Zuinglius at an early period of his evan- 
gelical career, had imitated Luther and many other godly re- 
formers — by taking to himself, in despight of the then existing 
ecclesiastical law forbidding priests to marry, a rich and, we may 
suppose, a very accomplished widow lady to wife. His personal 
prowess was not very great ; and he dreaded the idea of heading 
in person his new gospel proselytes to combat. Wherefore he 
neglected nothing which he deemed conducive to re-establish 
peace. A comet denounced to him his approaching fate; 
and he bitterly lamented his own too premature dissolution. 
March, however, he must — against the common enemy ; and the 
doleful event deprived his followers of their great apostle. He 
fell in the field of glory in 1531. The catholics remained mas- 
ters of the plain ; till the contending parties wisely agreed to 
terminate the bloody contest — by allowing to each other the free 
exercise of their respective religion. 

The doctrine of Zuinglius regarding clerical celibacy, and 
the veneration of the saints and angels, we have refuted under 
the article Vigil antius ; his denial of the real presence — under 
that of Berengarius ; his exceptions against the mass, and 
against indulgences — under that of Luther. The Lenten Fast 
. — being only a point of ecclesiastic discipline — could afford no 
sufficient grounds for a separation from the catholic church. 
However, we may here be allowed to observe, that the ecclesias- 
tical law ordaining the annual observation of this solemn fast, 
is on many accounts most venerable to christians : it is venerable 
for its antiquity ; for the universality of its observance, and for 
its manifold spiritual advantages recognised even by protestant 
travellers — in the surprising and edifying change operated in 
the lives of all descriptions of people in catholic countries, during 
this holy season. (See Sir Edwin Sands, in his Europce Specu- 
lum.) If we trace the religious observance of Lent through 
each preceding age from the present time, we find it clearly 
established in the councils and ecclesiastic writers of every cen- 
tury up to the very first, and that such monuments and vouchers 
in all parts of the church, evidently carry it as high as any monu- 
ments of the kind are extant ; that is, to the time when the 
immediate disciples and successors of the apostles were living, 
and actually governed the chief sees. The name itself of The 
Forty Day's Fast of Lent was used by Origen, (horn. 10. in Le- 
vit. T. 1, ed. de la Rue) and by subsequent writers in every suc- 
ceeding age ; — a circumstance, which demonstrates it to have 
been understood by the christian community — of this fast before 
their time. With regard to the general practice and utility of 
fasting, in order to appease the Divine anger, and to obtain 
blessings from above, it is so strongly recommended in holy 



374, Z U I 

scripture, and even by the example of Christ himself in the new 
law, who in his retirement into the desart fasted forty days / 
that it would be a gross insult to the understanding of our chris- 
tian readers to instance a multitude of texts by way of proof. 

Zuinglius wrote a book in support of his new doctrines, in 
which he employs the common-place arguments of all reformers ; 
arguments and slanderous charges which have been a thousand 
times refuted, and a thousand times — with increased asperity— 
brought forward again, as if they never had been controverted 
at all by catholic polemics. In the confession of faith which 
Zuinglius addressed to Francis I. a little before his death, occurs 
the following curious specimen of the author's orthodoxy. Ha- 
ving previously reminded that prince, that it was his duty to 
cherish in his breast the pleasing hope of one day beholding the 
assembly of all the holy, and courageous, and virtuous person- 
ages that ever have adorned society from the commencement of 
the world, he proceeds : f« There will you see the two Adams — 
the redeemed and the Redeemer ; you shall there see an 
Abel and a Henoch ; a Hercules, a Theseus ; a Socrates, an 
Aristides, Antigonus," &c. &c. and for aught we know — a Bo- 
naparte too ! The good-natured Swiss would have heaven set 
wide open to the very papists themselves, were it not too plain a 
contradiction to his darling system of reform. 

Before we conclude this last article in our Dictionary, it will 
not perhaps be deemed foreign to the subject, to examine a little 
more minutely into the grounds of protestant separation from 
the Roman catholic church. " The very best divines of the 
protestant communion allow — that no separation ought to have 
taken place, but on account of articles authentically established, 
and to the belief of which all christians are equally obliged. If 
then they allow also, as in fact they do, that in the Roman 
church all articles fundamentally necessary to salvation are re- 
tained and professed, it follows evidently, that the first reformers 
separated themselves from its communion without sufficient 
grounds," and were therefore schismatics. 

" M. Daille, in a treatise entitled Faith founded upon Scrip- 
ture, after exposing all the articles of faith held by the protestants 
at large, tells us ; — they are beyond all contestation ; that the Ro- 
man church professes to believe them ; that in reality the protes- 
tants do not hold all our opinionSi but that catholics hold all 
their articles of faith ; consequently, all the principal articles of 
the christian religion. But though M. Daille had not granted 
thus much, the thing itself is manifest ; and it is most notorious 
to the world, that Roman catholics actually do believe all those arti- 
cles termed by \>Yotestaxitsfundamental. Nor will it suffice to say — 
that we destroy these articles by interposing others contrary to 
them. For the same M. Daille, whose authority is alleged — 
not so much to convince protestants by the testimony of one of 



Z U I 375 

their most learned ministers, as because what he says is in itself 
highly reasonable, — tells them what they ought to think of such 
kind of consequences, on the supposition that mischievous ones- 
might be drawn from our doctrine. Writing to M. Monglat, he 
says : " although the opinion of the Lutherans upon the eu- 
charist, as well as that of Rome — according to us — infers the 
destruction of the humanity of Christ ; yet this consequence 
cannot be imputed to them without calumny, since they formally 
disavow it." 

" There is nothing more essential to the christian religion,. 
than the reality of the human nature in Jesus Christ ; and yet 
though the Lutherans hold a doctrine, from which is inferred the 
destruction of this capital verity, by consequences which the rest 
of the reformed judge evident ; yet they have not scrupled to 
offer to communicate with them — because their opinion has no 
poison in it> as M. Daille tells us in his apology 5 (cap. 7.) and 
their national synod, held at Charenton, 1631, admits them to 
the holy table ^ upon this ground, that they agree in the principal 
arid fundamental points of religion* It is then a certain maxim 
established among them, that they must not in these cases insist 
upon the consequences which may be drawn from a doctrine, 
but purely upon what He proposes and acknowledges, who 
teaches it." 

" So that when they infer by consequences, which they pre- 
tend to draw from our doctrine, that we do not sufficiently ac- 
knowledge the sovereign glory which is due to God, nor the 
quality of Saviour and Mediator in Jesus Christ, nor the infinite 
value of his sacrifice, nor the superabundant plenitude of his 
merits ; we may defend ourselves without difficulty from such 
consequences, by this short answer of M. Daille ; and tell them 
that-the catholic church disavowing them, they cannot be imputed 
to her without calumny" 

" But the catholic church, far from overthrowing the funda- 
mental articles of faith, either directly or indirectly, on the con- 
trary, establishes them after so solid and evident a manner, that 
no one can question her right understanding of them, without 
great injustice." 



Catholic doctrine upon religious worship. 

" To begin with that adoration which is due to God alone ; 
the catholic church teaches us, that it consists principally in be- 
lieving Him to be the Creator and Lord of ail things, and in ad- 
hering to him with all the powers of our soul, by faith, hope and 
charity, as to Him who alone can render us happy — by the com- 
munication of an infinite good which is himself" 

" This interior adoration, which we render to God in spirit 



376 Z U I 

and truth, has its exterior marks ; the chief of which is Sacrifice. 
This cannot be offered to any but to God alone ; because a sa- 
crifice is established to make a public acknowledgment, and a 
solemn protestation of God's sovereignty, and our absolute de- 
pendance. 

" The same church teaches us, that all religious worship 
ought to terminate in God, as its necessary end ; and that if 
the honour which she renders to the Blessed Virgin, and to 
the saints, may, in some sense, be called religious, it is merely 
by reason of its necessary relation to God. 

" But before we explain any farther — in what this honor 
consists, it will not be impertinent to take notice, how the gen- 
tlemen of the pretended reformation, constrained by the force 
of truth, begin to acknowledge, that the custom of praying to 
saints and honoring their relics, was established even in the 
fourth age of the church. Monsieur Daille grants thus much r 
in the book which he published against the tradition of the Latin 
church upon the object of religious worship ; and accuses St 
Basil, St Ambrose, St Jerom, St John Chrysostom, St Augus- 
tine, and many more of those famous lights of antiquity who 
lived in that age, and above all St Gregory Nazienzen, called 
the divine by excellence, — of having altered, in this point, the 
doctrine of the three foregoing ages. But it will not appear very 
likely, that M. Daille should understand the sentiments of the 
fathers of the first three ages, better than those who gathered, 
as we may say, the succession of their doctrine immediately after 
their deaths ; and this will be the less credible, because the fa- 
thers of the fourth age were so far from perceiving they intro- 
duced any novelty in that worship, that this minister, on the 
contrary, has quoted several express texts, by which he shews 
clearly, they pretended, in praying to saints, to follow the ex- 
ample of their predecessors. But, without any further examina- 
tion, what might be the sentiments of the fathers of the three 
first ages, I will content myself with what M. Daille is pleased to 
grant, allowing us so many great men who taught the church in 
the fourth age. For though he has taken upon himself 1,200 
years after their deaths, to give them, in derision, the name of 
a kind of sect, — calling them Reliquarists> that is to say, Relic- 
honourers ; yet, I hope, those of his communion will have 
more respect for these great men. They will not, at least, ac- 
cuse them of falling into idolatry, by praying to saints and ho- 
nouring their relics ; or of destroying that trust which christians 
ought to have in Jesus Christ ; and it is to be hoped that hence- 
forward they will refrain from similar reproaches in our regard, 
when they consider they cannot do it without accusing at the 
same time these excellent men, for whose sanctity and learning 
they themselves profess a reverence, as well as we." For a more 
satisfactory detail with reference to the invocation of saints and 



Z U I S*7 

the honoring of their relics, see the article Vigilantius : on 
images, revert to that of Iconoclasts. 



Justification. 

" The first authors of the reformation proposed this article as 
the principal of all the rest, and as the most essential cause of 
their separation. Of justification therefore, we believe, in the 
first place, that our sins are freely forgiven us by the divine Mercy, 
for Jesus Christ's sake. (Sess. 6. c. 9.) These are the express 
terms of the council of Trent, which adds, that we are said to be 
justified gratis, because none of those acts "which precede justifica- 
tion, whether they be faith or good works, can merit this grace. 

" But, as the Scripture explains the remission of sins by 
sometimes telling us that God covers them, and sometimes, that 
he takes them away, and blots them out by the grace of his Holy 
Spirit, which makes us new creatures; we believe, that, to 
form a perfect idea of the justification of a sinner, we must 
join both these expressions together. For which reason we 
believe our sins not only to be covered, but also entirely 
*washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by the grace 
of regeneration. This is so far from obscuring or lessening that 
idea which we ought to have of the merit of this blood, that, on 
the contrary, it heightens and augments it." 

" So that the justice of Jesus Christ is not only imputed, but 
actually communicated to the faithful, by the operation of the 
Holy Spirit ; insomuch that they are not reputed only, but ren- 
dered just by his grace. 

« If that justice which is in us, were only such in the eyes of 
men, it would not be the work of the Holy Ghost 5 it is then — a 
justice, and that before God, since it is God himself who produces 
it in us, by infusing his charity in our hearts. 

" Nevertheless it is too true, that the flesh rebels against the spi- 
rit, and the spirit against the flesh ; and that we all offend in many 
things. (Gal. v. 17. Jam. iii. 2.) So that, though our justice 
be truly such, by the infusion of his charity ; yet it is not perfect 
justice — because of the combat of concupiscence : insomuch that 
the continual sighings of a soul, penitent for her offences, are the 
most necessary duty of christian justice, which obliges us to hum- 
t>ly confess with St Augustine, that " our justice in this life consists 
rather in the remission of sin, than in the perfection of virtues." 



The merit of good works. 

" As to the merit of good works, the catholic church teaches 
us, that eternal life ought to be proposed to the children of God, 

SB 



378 Z U I 

loth as a grace which is mercifully promised to them by the me* 
diaiion of our Lord Jesus Christy and as a recompence which is faith- 
fully rendered to their good works and merits, by virtue of this 
promise. These are the proper terms of the council of Trent. 
(Sess. 6. c. 16.) But lest human pride should flatter itself with 
an opinion of a presumptuous merit, the same council teaches 
us, that all the price and value of a christian's works proceeds 
from the sanctifying grace which is given us gratis in the name 
of Jesus Christ; and that it is an effect of the continual influence 
of this divine Head upon its members. 

" The precepts, exhortations, promises, threatenings and re- 
proaches of the gospel shew clearly enough, we must work out 
our salvation by the co-operation of our wills with the grace of 
God assisting us ; but it is one of our first principles, that the 
free-will can do nothing conducive to eternal happiness, but as 
it is moved and influenced by the Holy Ghost." 

" So that the church knowing it is this Divine Spirit which 
works in us by his graces all the good we do, she is obliged to 
believe, that the good works of the faithful are very acceptable 
to God, and of great consideration before him ; and it is just 
she should make use of the word merit — with all christian anti- 
quity, — the better thus to denote the value, price, and dignity 
of those works, which we perform through grace. But as all 
their sanctity comes from God, who produces them in us, the 
same church adopts, in the council of Trent, these words of St 
Augustine, as a doctrine of catholic faith ; — that God crowns his 
own gifts in crowning the merits of his servants? 

" We beg of those who love truth and religious concord, that 
they would be pleased here to read the words of this council a 
little more at length, the more easily to divest themselves of those 
false impressions which have been given them, concerning, our 
doctrine. Although we see, say the fathers in this council, that 
holy writ has such an esteem for good works, that Jesus Christ 
himself there promises, — that a glass of cold water given to the 
poor shall not want its reward ; and that the apostle testifies how 
a moment of light pain endured in this world, shall produce an 
eternal weight of glory ; nevertheless, God Jorbid a christian 
■should trust and glory in himself, and not in our Lord, whose 
bounty is so great to all men, that he will have those gifts which He 
bestows upon them,. to be their merits? (Sess. 6. c. 16.) 

" This doctrine is diffused throughout the whole council; 
which teaches us, in another session, (Sess. 14, 8) that we, who 
can do nothing of ourselves, can do all things with Him that 
strengthens us, in such sort that man has nothing of which he may 
glory, nor for which he may confide in himself ; but all his confi- 
dence and glojy is in Jesus Christ, in whom we live, in whom wt 
merit, in whom we satisfy ; bringing forth fruits worthy of pe- 
nance, which draw their virtue from Him, and by Him are offer- 
ed to his Father, and accepted by his Father through Him.. 



Z U I 379 

Wherefore we ask all things, we hope all things, we render 
thanks for all things, through our Lord Jesus Christ. We con- 
fess aloud we are not acceptable to God but in and by Him ; 
and we cannot comprehend why any other thought should be 
attributed to us. We so place all the hopes of our salvation in 
Him, that we daily make use of these words to God in the sa- 
crifice : Vouchsafe, God, to grant to us sinners thy servants, 
who hope in the multitude of thy mercies, some fart and society 
with the blessed apostles and martyrs — into whose number we be- 
seech thee to be pleased to receive us, not looking upon our merits, 
but graciously pardoning tts in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord " 

" Will the church never be able to persuade her children, 
How become her adversaries, either by the exposition of her 
faith, or by the decisions of her councils, or by the prayers in 
Iier sacrifice, — that she believes she can have no life but in Jesus 
Christ, and that she has no hope but in Him ! This hope is so 
firm, that it makes the children of God, who walk faithfully in 
his ways, find a peace which surpasseth all understanding, as the 
apostle assures us. (Phil. 4, 7.) But though this hope be 
stronger than the promises and menaces of the world, aud suffi- 
cient to calm the troubles of our consciences ; yet it does not 
wholly extinguish fear : for although we be assured God will 
never abandon us, if we do not forsake Him, yet we are never 
certain we shall not lose him by our own fault, in rejecting his 
inspirations. He has been pleased by this saving fear duly to 
moderate that confidence, which he has infused into his children ; 
because, as St Augustine tells us, such is our infirmity in this 
place of temptation and dangers, that an absolute security would 
produce in us tepidity and pride ; whereas this fear, which, ac- 
cording to the apostle's command, makes us work out our salva- 
tion with trembling, renders us more vigilant, and makes us rely 
with a more humble dependence upon Him, who worketh i?i us by 
his grace, both to will, and to do, according to his good plea- 
sure, as the same St Paul expresses it." (Phil. 11, 12, 13.) 

" Thus you see what is most necessary in the doctrine of jus- 
tification ; and our adversaries would be very unreasonable, 
should they persist in denying that this doctrine suffices to teach 
christians, that they are obliged to refer all the glory of their sal- 
vation to God through Jesus Christ." 

" Let then our protestant brethren cease to accuse us of an- 
nulling the grace of God, by attributing all to our good works ; 
since we have shewn them, in such clear terms of the council of 
Trent, these three points, so decisive as to this matter j — That 
our sins are pardoned us out of pure mercy, for the sake of Jesus 
Christ ; that we are indebted for that justice which is in us by the 
Holy Ghost — to a liberality gratuitously bestowed upon us ,• and 
that all the good works we do, are but so many gifts of his grace. 1 " 

" And indeed we must acknowledge, that the learned of their 

S b 2 



380 CONCLUSION. 

party do not contend so much of late about this subject, as they 
did formerly ; and there are few but who now confess, there 
ought not to have been a breach upon this point. But if this 
important difficulty about justification, upon which their first 
authors laid all their stress, be not looked upon now as essential 
by the wisest and most learned persons of their communion, we 
leave them to think what they ought to judge of their separation, 
and what hopes there would be of a re-union, if they would but 
lay aside their prejudices and renounce the spirit of contention." 
See Bossuet's Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church ; 
whence I have extracted the above reflections. 

We will now beg leave to close our Dictionary with nearly 
the whole of the Reverend Joseph Berington's justly admired 
Introduction to his Faith of Catholics ; as we conceive it well 
adapted to our plan, and highly appropriate in this stage of our 
tompilation. 



CONCLUSION. 

" The creed or religious belief of catholics— is not confined, ex- 
clusively, to the scriptures : it is — what our Saviour taught, and 
his apostles delivered, before the sacred books of the New Testa- 
ment had any existence. During the course of his mission, and 
after his resurrection, the apostles had been instructed by their 
divine master, fully and explicitly, we cannot doubt, in all things 
that it was necessary for them to know. To them he shewed 
"himsdf alive after his passion by many proofs, for forty days ap- 
pearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God. (Acts i. 3.) 
Then, giving to them his final commission, he distinctly said: 
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising, &c. Teaching 
•them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and 
~behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the 
'World. (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.) The same commission is repeat- 
ed : Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to etiery 
creature. He that believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved; but 
he that believeth not shall be condemned.''' (Mark xvi. 15, 16.) 

< c Commenting on this commission, as stated by St Matthew, 
the learned St Jerom calls the form, in which it is delivered — the 
ordo prcecipuus, or the leading rule; and then adds: "Christ 
commanded the apostles first — to teach all nations; in the 
second place — to baptise them in the sacrament of faith ; and 
then, after faith and baptism, — to teach them what things were 
to be observed. And lest we should think that these things were 
of little moment, or few, he added: all things whatsoever I have 
commanded ; that is, they who have believed, and have been bap- 
tised, shall be taught to observe all my precepts ; and behold'. I 
mi with you all days even to the end of tlie tvorld. This is his 



CONCLUSION. 381 

promise : He will be with his disciples to the end of the world ; 
thus shewing that they shall never die, and that he will never 
forsake them, that shall believe in him." — Comment, in Matt. 1. 
4. in fine T. iii. p. 734. 

" Had Christ said : " Go and commit to writing the gospel, or 
those saving truths which you have heard from my mouth ; and 
let that writing or written word be the rule of belief to those 
whom you shall instruct, and to their successors to the end of the 
world" — had he said this, the point had been clear. But he said 
it not ; he commands them to go, and to teach, or preach. The 
commission then is to teach s and obedience to that teaching is 
enjoined under the severest menace : He that believeth not shall 
be condemned ; or, as you may have seen it rendered, shall be 
damned" ( kcctux.^ faovroii . ) 

" Under what latitude of interpretation can it now be main- 
tained, that this positive ordinance of Christ was merely tempora- 
ry ? — That it was to cease, and be superseded by another rule 
when the apostles should be no more, and the writings which they 
might leave behind them should have been declared authentic, and 
have obtained a very general circulation ? Were this to have 
been so ; without any effort of the imagination, I might be al- 
lowed to represent to myself the apostle St John, who survived 
his brother apostles, — surrounded ai Ephesus — as, we are told, 
he often was — by his disciples, thus addressing them : My deal- 
children I have finished my gospel ; written some epistles, as 
likewise the work which, from the various scenes therein de- 
scribed, I have entitled Apocalypse or Revelations. Three other 
gospels have been compiled ; a narrative called Acts, made pub- 
lic ; and my brothers Peter and Paul, James and Jude have ad- 
dressed certain letters to the churches. I can speak to their truth 
and their authenticity. Now then, as my time of abiding with 
you is short — it is essential you should know that these writings 
are to be the future rule of belief to you, and to all the faithful to 
the end of the world — not that ordinance of teaching, which our 
master once delivered to us." 

" Polycarp the venerable bishop of Smyrna, who was ac- 
quainted with many of the disciples of Christ, and particularly 
with St John, does not tell us that he was ever addressed in that 
manner. But it is said of him " that he always taught what he had 
learned from the apostles." And yet, surely, it was the duty of 
the evangelist so to have instructed his pupils, had he been 
aware that a new order of teaching and believing was thence- 
forth to prevail. It is admitted that the greatest part of the books 
of the New Testament was, at this time, coming into the general 
use of the christian churches. The moment then, was oppor- 
tune and critical." 

" We catholics, therefore, believe that our master Christ 
established a rule, which was to last as long as his religion should 



382 CONCLUSION. 

endure ; and that, to give to that rule a security that should never 
fail, he promised to be with the apostles and their successors, 
even to the consummation of the world. We likewise think that 
the perpetuity of that faith, which Christ came down from heaven 
to establish, would have been ill provided for — rather, would 
not have been provided for at all — if that ordinance of teaching 
which during his life time and that of his apostles, was judged 
necessary, had been then suspended — when it began to be most 
wanted. He would thus have been with his apostles who could 
enforce, even by miracles, the truths which they had received 
from his lips — but would on this supposition have left their suc- 
cessors to the guidance of their own judgment; or, which is the 
same thing, to the guidance of a rule which himself had not esta- 
blished, and that — on points, avowedly not within the compe- 
tence of human reason." 

" The apostles taught the truths which they had learned from 
Christ. I have received of the Lord, said St Paul (1 Cor. xi. 23) 
that which I also delivered to you : and again : For I delivered to 
you first of all, which I also received ; how that Christ died for 
our sins according to the scriptures .* (Ibid. xv. 3.) This is the 
ordo jprcecipuus — the leading rule ; first to receive, and then 
deliver. He does not say that he learned it from the scriptures ; 
but that he had received it. And the same truths by the same 
mode of teaching, have continued to be delivered down to us by 
the pastors of the church, the successors of the apostles. The 
difference lies in this only ; that the interval between us and 
Jesus Christ — the fountain of every christian truth — is measured 
by eighteen centuries ; whereas the communication between that 
fountain and the apostles, and between these apostles and the 
next to them in succession, was immediate. But truth is not 
lost, nor altered, nor weakened, by descent — when an unbroken 
chain of living witnesses provided with all necessary documents, 
proclaims its identity, and the promised assistance of Christ 
himself, gives security to their w r ords : i" am with you all days, 
even to the consummation of the world" 

« But how is Jesus Christ with the pastors of his church. 
JJow ! ! — Does it become a thinking christian to ask this ques- 
tion ? — How does the Divine Providence govern the world ?— 
How, after he had left the earth, could Christ, as he had pro- 
mised, abide with his apostles ? — How were the writers of the 
scriptures inspired in the execution of their tasks ? 

" But, if the subject be duly considered, it should appear, 
that no particular interference of the Divine Spirit, in the go- 
vernment of the church, is, on ordinary occasions, necessary, to 
preserve its pastors from error. They deliver what they have 
received. To this all are witnesses : the decisions of councils 
are witnesses ; the faithful are witnesses ; all our liturgies and 
©ther forms of prayer are witnesses 5 the catechisms an4 books 



CONCLUSION. 383 

of public instruction are witnesses ; and the writings of all pre- 
ceding teachers, joined to the admitted testimony of the scrips 
tures, are witnesses. A barrier, in defence of the truths once 
received, is thus formed, which no subtlety can undermine ; no 
temerity surmount. Still we cannot doubt, that God, with pa- 
ternal kindness, watches over the great work of his mercy, and 
interferes as he judges it expedient ; in the same manner as, it is 
believed, he guided the pens of the evangelists, though all of 
them, by other means, were in possession of the facts which 
they relate. " For as much as many," says St Luke, i. 1,2, 3, 
«« have taken in hand to set forth in order, a narration of those 
things that have been accomplished amongst us ; according as 
they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were 
eye-witnesses and ministers of the word : it seemed good to me 
also, having diligently attained to all things from the beginning,. 
to write to Thee in order, most excellent Theophilus." 

" But here, I admit, a question may be very fairly proposed. 
— If the ordinance of teaching, delivered to the apostles, was de- 
signed to be perpetual — as has been said j — of what use are the 
scriptures of the New Testament ? — As an independent rule of 
faith we conceive them to be of none, for this plain reason : — 
that, as all the truths which we believe to be divine, and which 
are the objects of our faith, came immediately from Christ, and 
were taught by the apostles before those scriptures were written 
— we are not at liberty to think that those truths would not have 
remained, to the end of the work! pure and unaltered, had that 
primitive state of things continued ; that is, had it never seemed 
good to any of those apostolic men as it did to St Luke, to 
commit to writing what they had learned. He did it, he says, 
that Theophilus, to whom he writes, might know the verity of 
those words in which he had been instructed." (v. 4.) 

" But though these scriptures are not to us a rule of faith, 
taken independently of the teaching authority of the pastors of 
the church, who are the successors of the apostles ; yet we ve- 
nerate them as a sacred deposite bequeathed to us by the kindest 
of parents, containing truths of high moment, practical lessons 
of saving morality, and facts of history, relating to the life of 
our Saviour and the conduct of his disciples, eminently interest- 
ing and instructive. For this we are deeply grateful. Nor have 
I mentioned all the advantages to be derived from the scriptures. 
For they come forward with a powerful aid, to support by the 
evidence of their contents — the divine truth of the faith which 
we have received. So Theophilus, when he read that admira- 
ble narration which St Luke compiles for him, would be more 
and more confirmed in the verity of those words, in which he had 
been instructed" 

" Really I cannot understand, under what security of con- 
science we could, unauthorised, choose that for a rule of belief, 



384« CONCLUSION, 

which Christ did not appoint— and which, if expounded by pri- 
vate interpretation, must often lead into error ; — and neglect 
that authority, which he so positively ordained to be our guide. 
" Go ye and teach all nations .... teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you." And yet, I believe, 
it has been said — not by any member, indeed, of the catholic 
church-— that " the scriptures are the sole rule of faith, and rea- 
son their sole interpreter," that is, that each one shall teach 
himself! St Paul allowed not this liberty to his Corinthian con- 
verts. He speaks to them of the gospel which he had preached ,• 
which they had received ; and wherein they stand : and, by this, 
lie adds, "you are saved," if you hold fast after what manner I 
preached to you, unless you have believed in vain. (1 Cor. xv. 
1, 2.) No choice is allowed: they must believe as he had 
taught them." 

" The catholic reader will now be sensible, should any point of 
his belief seem to receive but little support, or even no support, 
from any text of scripture, — that its truth is not thereby affected, 
as its divine origin from Christ, and its descent from the apostles, 
remain the same ; and, therefore, that the doctrine of Purgatory 
and the Invocation of Saints stands on the same foundation as 
that of the Authority of the church, though, in support of the 
former, the evidence of scripture be comparatively weak. Why, 
or how this has happened, let him say, tvho hath known the mind 
of the Lord, and hath been his counsellor." (Rom xi. 34.) 

" But even where the proofs from scripture are most plain 
and most abundant, the well-taught catholic does not apply them 
definitively, as the light of his own understanding may direct 
him j but he turns to the guide that Christ appointed, that is, 
the teaching authority of the successors of the apostles ; which 
guide will lead him through the paths of truth, by explaining — 
in what sense the passages of scripture on doctrinal points have, 
at all times, been understood, expounded, and applied. Such a 
guide is manifestly necessary when on those points — as it too of- 
ten happens — the meaning of any passage has been made a sub- 
ject of controversy. For, it needs not be said, how prone to er- 
ror is the undirected mind of man ; and that when he thinks that 
he follows the evidence of the written word—- which must be to 
him a silent letter, — it is his own fancy that he follows, or the de- 
lusive light of a very fallible understanding. — Such a guide, says 
the catholic, can give me no security ; while if I wish for subjects 
on which to exercise the powers of my mind — in which to err in- 
deed, may be easy, but where error would be innocent — they 
present themselves on every side. On points avowedly above 
my reach, I wish to risk no decision, nor on collateral subjects 
connected with them : for errors in religion, I am told, have all 
arisen from the scriptures misunderstood, or have been maintain- 
ed by alleged proofs derived from them." 



CONCLUSION, 385 

" The security which a catholic, well -instructed, experiences 
in the profession of his belief, resting on the teaching authority 
established by Christ, must be esteemed a signal blessing. And 
what adds to it is, that the more he enquires, the more he finds 
that security confirmed, as he ascends, through the annals of 
time, towards Christ and his apostles : while the unlettered man, 
by a few plain documents, is taught, that the guides whom his 
Saviour has commanded him to follow, can lead him securely 
into all truths ; and that, in trusting them, he trusts in God." 

" I would ask the soundest reasoner — when I had obtained from 
him the concession, that it was important to believe the truths 
which Christ came from heaven to establish ; and that, on the ad- 
mission of those truths, as the same divine teacher had so posi- 
tively declared, depended future happiness : — I would ask him, I 
say, were I at a loss by what means to come to the knowledge of 
those truths — what advice he would give me ? Would he advise 
me to search the scriptures for them, and rely on my own saga- 
city for the discovery — when I added that, on less important 
subjects, my own judgment often deceived me ; and that, in re- 
gard to the meaning of some leading points in the scriptures, there 
were as many (and as opposite) opinions as there were lines ? — 
Or would he refer me to such a guide as has been described— the 
speaking authority of the catholic church — which could tell me, 
in what sense those scriptures, on the points in question, had, at 
all times, been expounded; and besides, could hold out to me a clue 
that should safely lead me, through the series of ages, up to the 
time when Christ himself taught, and the apostles — as he com- 
manded — delivered the doctrines which they had received from 
him ?" 

<( What his advice would be, cannot be doubted. And 1 can 
as little doubt that he would proceed to assure me, that to rely 
on any other guide, or to oppose to it the guidance of " private 
judgment" must obviously arise from the most inveterate preju- 
dice, or from the wild conviction, that it mattered not what a 
man believed, when he chose a guide that could not direct 
him." 

" I am then convinced, would the serious enquirer — laying 
aside every other motive, but what the evidence of common 
reason would present to him — decide impartially ; — that he must 
embrace the catholic principle of a teaching authority, resting 
on the commission given by our Saviour to his apostles, and 
the concomitant promise of perpetual assistance. But is not 
this authority an overbearing control ? Does it not infringe 
that liberty of conscience which each one — it is often said — en- 
joys, of choosing his own faith, and of professing what he has 
chosen ?" 

" That man enjoys this liberty in regard to his fellow- man, 
I am ready to allow. To one another we are not accountable. 

3 c 



386 CONCLUSION. 

But is it so in regard of Heaven ? When Christ said to his 
apostles : — Go ye and preach the gospel to every creature* He 
that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved ; but he that believeth 
not shall be condemned (Mark xvi.) : when he pronounced this 
solemn threat j if Peter, with his usual promptness, had observ- 
ed : — Master, shall this be ? Shall that liberty be thus taken 
away 9 which every disciple should enjoy — of choosing his own 
faith, and of professing what he shall have thus chosen ?" — 
I leave it to the person who may be supposed to have made the 
objection, to say — what, probably, on the occasion, would have 
been the reply of Christ ? I will suggest to him only — what on 
another occasion he did say to the same apostle : Get thee be- 
hind me, Satan- thou art a scandal tome : because thou savour est 
not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men ;" 
(Matt. xvi. 23.) 

" Notwithstanding what I have said of the authority of teach- 
ing pastors, succeeding to the apostles, and exercising their 
ministry in the propagation of the Divine truths, I am aware 
that we often speak of the written word, or the scriptures, as a 
rule of faith. — This has arisen from the great authority which 
those scriptures bear, as the inspired word of God, and as con- 
taining the chief points of christian belief. But that they are 
not to us, as I before expressed it, an independent rule, is mani- 
fest, when it is moreover observed, that not only do they owe 
their integrity to the vigilant care of the church ; but that no 
passage in them, on doctrinal points, is ever explained in any 
other sense, than as that chnrch in conformity with what she 
has received, explains them. Hence we lay it down as an in- 
troductory and certain principle ; <* That all that, and that on- 
ly, is of catholic faith, which God has revealed, and the church 
proposes to our belief." — " The catholic christian," observes 
the learned bishop of Meaux, " forms not his faith by reading 
the scriptures : his faith is already formed before he begins to 
read : reading serves only to confirm what he already believes ; 
that is, to confirm the doctrine which the church has delivered 
to him." — Conference avec M. Claude, p. 330. 

" The leading points of catholic faith we embrace — because 
Christ and his apostles taught them : but Christ and his apostles 
taught likewise other articles : to those, therefore, we alike submit. 
To act otherwise, would, surely, be absurd. They come down to 
us through the same series of receiving and delivering the scrip- 
tures confirming their truth, and the fathers in their writings 
witnessing the legitimacy of their descent. And shall human 
arrogance here interfere ; and because it judges some points to 
accord better with its notions of truth than others, receive these 
and reject the others ; receive the doctrines of original sin, of 
the Trinity, of the incarnation and of the atonement ; and re- 
ject that of the corporeal presence in the eucharist ? Or the 



CONCLUSION. 387 

nfotive may be, that the scriptures, called in, without authority, 
to be the sole rule of belief, and arbitrarily expounded, shall 
seem to speak more distinctly on some points than on others. 

" It here seems expedient to notice a charge, often urged 
against catholics, that the use of reason, in the concern of re- 
ligion, is forbidden to them. — That this should have been said 
by Deists, who reject all revelation ; or by the followers of So- 
cinus, to whose understandings no mysteries are acceptable ; I 
can readily conceive. But I cannot conceive, — that it should 
be heard from men, who themselves believe, that the Divine 
Being has communicated his will to man, and that in the mani- 
festation of that, may be, and are, not one, but various sub- 
jects, placed beyond the reach of human comprehension. For 
by admitting but one single point — let us say that of the incar- 
nation of the second person — not, it is plain, from any evidence 
in the object, but on the single motive of its having been so 
revealed, they by this admit a principle on which the whole fa- 
bric of catholic belief is centred. 

" To make this more plain, let me ask you, who are ready to 
submit your reasoning powers to this limited suspension — why 
you are a christian ? I am a christian you will answer : because, 
having maturely weighed the various arguments which prove the 
authenticity of the Jewish scriptures ; dwelt on the prophecies 
therein contained ; and looked forward to their fulfilment, I 
seemed to discover, in applying those prophecies to a personage 
who appeared among the Jews in the reign of Augustus Cesar — 
their probable completion. At the same time a general expecta- 
tion among nations, and particularly in Judea, selected that pe- 
riod as the season of some great event. Fondly then, I contem- 
plated the birth of that personage with its wonderful circum- 
stances, his character, his conduct, his lessons of morality, his 
miracles, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection from the 
dead, and his glorious ascension into heaven — all recorded in the 
simple language of truth, by witnesses who could have no motive 
to deceive me. And these witnesses, with their associates in the 
same cause, afterwards, I found, all died attesting the truth of 
what they had heard and seen. The personage then, called 
Jesus Christ, who lived and died as is related, was manifestly, I 
concluded, the expected Messiah, in whom the ancient prophe- 
cies were fulfilled and who was sent by God to make known his 
further will to man. To his lessons I then submit, as to the voice 
from heaven : I embrace his law — whether it contain moral pre- 
cepts, the obvious tendency of which I plainly see — or it con- 
tain mysterious doctrines which I cannot comprehend. In these 
the authority of the Teacher is the motive of mv belief. Shall I, 
weak and limited as I am in all my powers, attempt to measure 
what may be infinite j or withold my assent, because, having 
compared what is spiritual with what is earthly, I discover not 

3 c 2 



388 CONCLUSION. 

that analogy, or those relations on which my understanding can 
repose ? The establishment of Christianity is then to me a fact, 
to which, by no laborious process of reasoning, I have been con- 
ducted ,• and, being thus far advanced, if I demur, or hesitate to 
believe — from any such motives as have been mentioned, — that 
same reason which hitherto has been my guide will not fail to 
tell me, that, in so doing, I act not the part of a christian or of a 
philosopher : — I have said ; why I am a christian. 

" This reasoning, I admit, is accurately just: but I must be al- 
lowed to add, that it is my own and that of every catholic 
who, from considering the motives of credibility, as they are 
called, has been led to the belief of the fact of the christian dis- 
pensation. But does the exercise of his reasoning faculties ter«- 
minate here ? It does not ; because, from the unhappy divisions 
of the christian world, he is compelled to go farther. 

" I will now say; why I am a catholic. But, first, let me ob- 
serve, that the distinction of catholic and christian, in their ori- 
ginal acceptation, was a distinction without a difference. Now, 
however, it prevails ; and has long prevailed to a certain extent, 
since as early as the fourth century a Spanish bishop, reasoning 
against the Novatians, who had separated themselves from the 
church, says : " Christian is my name -, Catholic is my surname." 
It served therefore to denote those, who adhered to and were 
members of, that great society which in the creed is called Tlie 
Catholic Church. 

" I am a catholic then, because I am a christian ; and I reason 
in the following manner: 1. Having been conducted, as has 
been stated, to the threshold of divine faith, am I not bound to 
receive as undoubted truths, whatever God in his goodness has 
taught me by his Son, without demur and without wavering ; 
not enquiring whether they accord with my own preconceived 
notions, or with the relations and analogies of things conceived 
in my mind ? 

2. " Would not such demur and wavering, and such enquiry, 
argue pride and a culpable want of confidence in that Being, 
whose wisdom, and power and goodness, and love for his crea- 
tures, we know to be without bounds ? 

S. " But how am I to learn what truths those are which God 
has revealed ? 

4?. " Am I to learn them — for eighteen hundred years have 
now elapsed since first they were delivered — am I to learn them 
from those records, called the books of the New Testament, 
wherein are deposited many words and actions of our Saviour's 
life and conversation, as likewise many rules of belief and prac- 
tice—or may those truths be collected from any other source ? 

5. " To satisfy this difficulty, should I not enquire whether any 
rule has been prescribed, which it is my duty to follow, and by 
following which, I shall learn in perfect security the truths in 



CONCLUSION. 389 

question; conscious that, without such rule to guide me, I 
must be liable, from the very character of mind, to fall into 
misconceptions and error ?" 

6. " I now turn to those scriptures, and, perusing them with 
respectful caution, I find that, in giving his last instructions to 
his apostles, Christ bids them Go and teach all nations, . . 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever he had command- 
ed ; and he promises to be with them all days even to the end of 
the world. (Matt, xxviii.) In the gospel of St Mark, c. xvi. 
I find the same injunction repeated, with the threat that he who 
belie veth not the gospel which shall be preached to every crea- 
ture, shall be condemned." 

7. " This is the ordinance or rule which I sought : and by it, I 
plainly see, two things are established : first an authority which 
is to point out to me, by teaching, what I am to believe ; and 
secondly a duty — if I will be saved — of listening to and obeying 
that authority." 

8. " But I cannot discover that any command is given — of 
committing to writing what our Saviour had taught, nor any 
reference made to books that might be written : Go and teach — is 
the simple mandate : and as during the lives of the apostles there 
was no written word that could be a rule, under what new injunc- 
tion is the rule of teaching set aside, and that of scripture-inter- 
pretation substituted ?" 

9. " The authority then of which I speak, was first lodged with 
the apostles to whom it was directly committed ; but as they, in 
a few years, would be called away from their labors, and Christ 
promised that he would be with them to the end of the world, 
must not this promise include them and their successors in the 
ministry of the gospel ?" 

10. " Should it be restricted to the few years of the lives of 
the apostles, would Heaven, I humbly ask, have sufficiently pro- 
vided for the perpetuity of that faith, the foundations of which 
had been laid at such a vast expence of supernatural means ?" 

11. " In the successors, then, of the apostles, I conclude, 
was to be lodged — when they were gone — the same authority of 
teaching ; and to the faithful was to descend — under the same 
menace of condemnation — the duty of receiving what they 
should be thus taught." 

12. « Still, this being allowed me, must it not be proved — 
in order to ascertain the genuine character of these teachers,-— 
that the line of their succession from the apostles, during eighteen 
hundred years, has not been broken ; and moreover, that no- 
thing at any time has been added to, or taken from that depo- 
sit of sacred truths, which was originally committed to the 
apostles ?" 

13. « Doubtless, this must be proved: — First, then, I look 
to the promise of Christ — that he would be with the pastors of 



390 CONCLUSION. 

his church to the end of the world. — Secondly, I turn to the 
annals of history, in which is recorded the succession of those 
pastors — the object of my research — and I particularly select the 
succession of the bishops of Rome. — Thirdly, I institute a simi- 
lar enquiry through a similar research, on the points of belief.'* 

14. " The result of this investigation is — That a line of suc- 
cession in that church may be traced distinctly and incontro- 
vertibly ; and that whether I take the whole code of belief, or — 
which is more easily accomplished — select any one article ; state 
it as it is now publicly taught ; and pursue it through the popu- 
lar books of instruction, and the writings of those who, in every 
age, have recorded its doctrine — I am, invariably, brought to 
one conclusion, — that the catholic belief of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, in no part differs from the belief of the early ages, that is, 
from the belief of the apostles." 

15. " Here I rest in perfect security : my reason has led 
me to a guide, and to that guide I submit my judgment, on 
all those points which it has pleased God to reveal, and his 
church proposes to my belief. — I have said ; why I am a ca- 
tholic:" 

" But let it not be imagined that, because the catholic bows in 
humble submission to the voice of the teaching authority, on 
such points, and so far, as Christ has commanded, — that his 
liberty, on other subjects, is abridged, — or that, on such sub- 
jects, he is not as free to reason, to discuss, to receive, or to 
reject, as the freest man can wish. So it was of old : Of every 
tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat, said the Lord to Adam: 
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 
(Gen. ii.) Here was a restriction; and shall the descendants of 
Adam think it much to be restrained — where the utmost licence 
of thought could lead them to no certain knowledge ? When 
our first parents did eat, we know who told them, that their 
eyes should be opened, and that they should be as Gods, knowing 
good and evil. — I was not aware, that the exercise of private 
judgment had been so early recommended." 

" Under what misconception, now, has it been made a subject 
of reproach to catholics, that the use of reason is forbidden to 
them ? I have led the reader through a series of investigation, 
composed of fifteen members ; which investigation, it is plain, 
to be completed must be carried on to a much greater length. 
And every catholic, whose circumstances will allow it and whose 
capacity will bear him through, is invited to pursue a similar en- 
quiry ; from which the avenues to his faith will be best secured, 
and himself be always ready to satisfy every one "that asketh 
a reason of that hope which is in him." 

" Secondly. Much has been written on the use to be made 
©f the fathers, and on their authority in deciding controverted 



CONCLUSION. 391 

points of doctrine. Their use regards, chiefly, — their testimony • 
and may be considered as limited to their being witnesses to the 
doctrines which they had received. — What their characters may 
be as writers on general subjects, or what their style of composi- 
tion, is foreign from my plan to consider. — I observe, when they 
speak of points of essential belief, that they uniformly hold the 
same language — the language of St Paul — declaring that — what 
they received — that they deliver. They give nothing new ; speak 
of nothing new but error ; and, to every attempt at innovation 
they as uniformly profess themselves hostile." 

« The testimony, then, of these personages — not conspiring 
to the maintenance of any preconcerted system ; often separated 
by distance of space and time ; not speaking the same language — 
some being Greeks and others Latins — -is irresistible. It is not 
their reputation for piety, for candour, nor for orthodoxy, that 
carries conviction to the mind of the reader — for the testimony 
of Tertullian, when a Montanist, to the fact of his having receiv- 
ed such doctrines, is little less than before his defection — but the 
simple circumstance of united testimony." 

" In the second and third centuries the authorities are less 
numerous, from the obvious reason that fewer works on religion 
were then written ; or that — which to us is much the same — 
fewer have come down to our times. But it has often excited 
my surprise, that all our doctrines can even from them be so dis- 
tinctly traced — when no opposition to their truth called for any 
direct testimony. On these occasions, however, that is, before 
the subtlety of error made it necessary to be more accurate, it 
was very natural, that teachers of the people and writers should be 
more loose and unguarded in their expressions. And so it was. 
St Jerom, I recollect, remarks — speaking of some fathers who 
wrote before the Arian controversy — that their words might not 
have been always accurate ; and the same apology on other sub- 
jects has been made for Lactantius and other writers. They 
spoke without fear of being misunderstood ; using such phrases 
as were in common use. But when that heresy and those arising 
from it — the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches— had made it 
necessary to adopt a language of more precision, writers of in- 
ferior talents and acquirements became more guarded and more 
correct." 

" A man, of common candour, being aware of this, will know 
how to judge as he investigates the opinions of those early days. 
Before any controversy had arisen on a particular point of doc- 
trine, he will not look for the same precision as after Arius and 
Nestorius had caused litigation ; and he will be disposed to make 
allowances for the case." 

" It may be expected" continues Mr Berington, " that I 
shall claim this allowance on the subject of Christ's presence in 
the eucharkt ; a point which, during the centuries of which I 



392 CONCLUSION. 

am speaking, had experienced no contradiction : but I shall not ; 
— with such fulness and decision is the doctrine every where an- 
nounced. Still, I will not deny, that a captious controvertist 
may, on this and other points, extract some few passnges, not al- 
ways so full and explicit, — which he may think himself at liberty 
to make use of, should the candour of his mind not incline him 
to compare passage with passage ; to explain what may seem 
ambiguous or loosely worded, by what is clear and precise ; 
and finally to decide — not from detached clauses but from the 
united evidence of those who, during the period of the century, 
wrote incidentally or purposely on the subject." 

" Having mentioned the subject of the real presence, and 
observed — how full and decisive on it are the sentiments of the 
early fathers, I may be allowed, perhaps, to introduce the ana- 
logous declaration of the great innovator, Luther. He is defend- 
ing his own opinion against those who — making use of the liber- 
ty which he had promulgated of expounding the scriptures by 
their own judgment — denied the real or corporeal presence." 
" That no one among the fathers," he says, " numerous as 
they are, should have spoken of the eucharist as these men do, 
is truly astonishing. Not one of them speaks thus : There is only 
bread and wine ; or — the body and blood of Christ are not present. 
And when we reflect how often the subject is treated and repeat- 
ed by them, it ceases to be credible — it is not even possible— that, 
not so much as once, such words as these should have dropt from 
some of them. Surely, it was of moment that men should not 
be drawn into error. Still, they all speak with such precision, 
evincing that they entertained no doubt of the presence of the 
body and blood ! Had not this been their conviction, can it be 
imagined that, among so many, the negative opinion should not 
have been uttered on a single occasion ? On other points this 
was not the case. But our Sacramentarians, on the other hand, 
can proclaim only the negative or contrary opinion. These 
men, then, to say all in one word, have drawn their notions, 
neither from the scriptures, nor the fathers," — Defensio Verborum 
Ccence, T. viii. p. 391. Edit. Witenbergce, 1557. 

« These authorities so chained his mind, that no effort could 
release him. He blushes not to add : This I cannot nor am I 
willing to deny, that had any one, five years ago, been able to 
persuade me, that in the sacrament were only bread and wine,- 
he would have laid me under great obligations to him. In the 
discussion of this point, studiously anxious, I laboured much : 
every nerve was stretched to extricate myself, if possible ; for I 
was clearly sensible, that nothing would have given so much pain 
to the Roman bishop." — Ibid. p. 502. What will our friend 
Peter Plymley say to this ? For more upon the subject I would 
refer him to the article Berengarius. 



CONCLUSION. 893 

Mr Berington proceeds : " This extraordinary man (Luther) 
could shew some respect for the fathers, when their opinions 
served to strengthen his own ; but when they differed* all re- 
spect ceased. Our Henry the VIII. had entered the lists with 
him, in defence of the sacrifice of the mass; the friar replied: 
To establish this sacrifice Henry has recourse at last to the 
words of the fathers. — Heaven well knows, that 1 care not if a 
thousand Austins, a thousand Cyprians, or a thousand others 
like them were against me. God cannot err and deceive ; Austin 
and Cyprian, and all the vessels of election, might, and did err." 
— Contra Begem. Angl. T. ii. p. 334. 

" This may pass with Luther: but the more humble man 
will ask — If the testimony of the fathers maybe disregarded — by 
what other means shall that chain of evidence be supported, 
which, through the lapse of ages, unites, and has united, the 
successive generations of believers, in one faith — with Christ and 
his apostles ? I adduce therefore with pleasure the testimony of 
two divines of the established church, whose least praise it was, 
that they professed themselves the disciples of this arrogant and 
inconsistent reformer." 

" Dr Cave thus speaks : i( In this are all protestant divines, with 
few exceptions, agreed — that the scripture is the first and only 
infallible rule of faith and morals : and that the next piace is 
due to the fathers, as far as they accord with, and approve and 
confirm by their testimony, the truth contained in the scripture. 
We revere the fathers; not indeed as judges of the faith, but as 
witnesses, who deliver to us with fidelity what was, in every agre, 
done and believed. They hand down to us the sacred deposite 
of faith ; and clearly point out what, and when, heresies arose, and 
the article of faith which they opposed. The more ancient those 
witnesses, the stronger is their testimony, and our reliance on 
them the more firm. Thus did those champions of old, Tertul- 
lian, Augustine and others, proceed in their defence of the chris- 
tian religion — unceasingly appealing to their forefathers ;-— and 
among them no one has treated this argument more successfully 
than Vincent of Lerins, in his Commonitorium against here- 
tics." — Ep. Apolog. in append. T. ii. Hist. Lit. p. 68. Oxonii, 
1743. 

66 The same is the language of Dr Mills, in his dedication of the 
works of St Cyril of Jerusalem to the Earl of Pembroke and 
Montgomery : " Although you do not allow, that the authority 
of the fathers is sufficiently strong to establish a new dogma of 
faith ; yet it is usual with you to adduce them as witnesses of 
the faith once delivered to the saints, and as most faithful inter- 
preters of the word of God. For since the many controversies, 
with which the church in our days is harassed, have arisen 
from the contending parties not admitting any certain rule 
whereby to interpret the scripture — different authors drawing 

3d 



394 CONCLUSION. 

from the same words different, and absolutely contrary meanings 
— these contentions would be happily terminated, if that which 
was held by the church at all times, and in all or most places, 

were on both sides admitted as true, certain and indispensable. 

And I myself have heard you reject — not without indignation 

the scriptural interpretations adduced by the Arians and Socini- 
ans, for no other reason, than because they are most remote from 
the sense of the fathers." 

" It is proper to add, that many of these fathers, to whose 
testimony we have recourse, were themselves bishops of the 
churches which the apostles had founded ; to which churches an 
appeal was always made against the heretics, in favour of the true 
doctrine. " What the apostles taught," observes Tertullian, 
" that is, what Christ revealed to them, may best be learned from 
those churches which the apostles founded." He then adds : 
"all doctrine that agrees with the faith of those original and mo- 
ther churches, is to be deemed true: all other is false; not 
coming from the apostles, nor from Christ, nor from God." This 
he repeats ; and the same — as will be remarked in the perusal of 
this book — is repeated by others. If then the authority of these 
churches be such ; such also, must be the authority of their 
teachers ; not only when they preached the doctrine which they 
had received, and their churches preserved; but likewise, when 
they committed the same to writing, and attested its truth*" 

" Thirdly. The voice of general councils, in our opinion, is 
most decisive. They form, in a certain sense, the representative 
body of the universal church. Yet councils, whether general, 
or national, or provincial, proceed on the common principle that 
guides individually the pastors of the church. Having enquired 
on the controverted point that has assembled them together, 
by turning to the annals of former times — what was then taught, 
as confirmed by the scriptures and the testimony of the fathers; 
and having declared what they themselves — the pastors of the 
faithful and the guardians of the deposite of faith — have received ; 
they pronounce that to be error, which is not conformable to the 
truth thus authenticated ; and by a new definition, if judged ne- 
cessary, re-confirm this truth. To remove ambiguity, it may 
sometimes appear expedient to adopt a new term ; as was done at 
Nice when the word Consubstanti-al against the error of Arius 
was received into the Creed. But nothing new in the doctrine 
is thereby announced ; a more explicit profession alone is brought 
forward, or, as it has been well expressed, " in consequence of 
the sophistries of error, a clearness and accuracy are adopted, 
which the contested articles while uncontested did not stand in 
need of." 

" In councils then, is a greater solemnity, when the pastors of 
the church with united voice proclaim — what is the doctrine that 
hath been transmitted to them. This they did in the first gene^ 



CONCLUSION. 295 

ral synod, held at Nice against the errors of Alius ; and the 
same process was followed at Trent at a much more recent pe- 
riod — when the innovating spirit of the times called for a like in- 
terference. But — -let me repeat it— the same principle, on all 
points of faith j directs the proceedings of councils, that is the 
guide to each individual prelate, in instructing the flock com- 
mitted to his charge : What I have received, that I deliver to 
you. — Discipline which is subject to the alterations of time and 
place, allows other modes of proceeding." 

" Fourthly. During the first eight centuries, there was not 
a shade of difference in the doctrines of the Greek and Latin 
churches : their sentiments were precisely the same on every in- 
dividual article of faith. All were catholics ; and so — a few points 
excepted— have the Greeks continued down to the present day. 
In the ninth century the schism began, and has never since been 
completely closed ; the points of disunion, principally, being — 
the primacy of the Roman bishop over all the churches ; the ad- 
dition made to the creed of Constantinople, usually called the 
Nicene creed, concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost from 
the Son ; and the use of unleavened bread at the altar, by the 
Latins. The ambition of Photius, patriarch of the imperial city 
of Constantinople, first fomented the quarrel; which much of the 
same spirit, I fear, has since upheld." 

" Owing to this schism it has been, that many persons not at- 
tentive to dates, but attentive to the present difference of opinions, 
have incautiously fancied, that the Greek and Latin churches at 
no time thought alike ; and that the points on which they differ 
are many, and not the few which I have mentioned. To ob- 
viate this mistake on the first head, it is necessary to notice, as 
we pass from century to century in our course of reading, and 
from father to father — with what uniformity they utter the same 
sentiments, whether members of the Greek, or of the Latin rite." 

« This unity of belief, so observable in the early centuries — 
which must be viewed as an essential mark of the church of 
Christ — as it rests on the immutable nature of truth, and is se- 
cured in its perpetuity by the means so often stated, must — if 
we reasoned only from moral probabilities — ever continue. The 
public mind, it will be admitted, has been often agitated, and 
often divided by discordant opinions, arising from the disputes 
of theologians on a variety of subjects ; though oftener such dis- 
putes — at least amongst us in the West — gained not the ear of 
the multitude. As far as it went, this was an evil ; but it is an 
evil inseparable from that liberty of thought and speech, which 
cannot be restrained. But, in the heat of the warmest alterca- 
tions, no discordance was, at any time, discoverable, on the 
points of general belief, and the authority connected with them. 
This fact is deserving of notice, and must appear more so, when 
— through the progress of thirteen centuries — which followed the 

3 d 2 



326 CONCLUSION. 

times of which I have spoken — we contemplate the earlier events 
only — that is, the state of the European kingdoms, invaded and 
occupied by barbarous nations ; the monuments of ancient days, 
in literature and in arts, destroyed ; the venerable language of 
Rome merging in foreign dialects 5 and — but the picture by too 
many writers is too deeply coloured — the whole face of the moral 
world more or less disfigured by ignorance, superstition and in- 
discriminating credulity. In the last, from the wider spread of 
heresies, and the portentous conquests of Mahomet and his fol- 
lowers, the case was worse. Yet the faith of the Jeroms and 
the Chiysostoms was not affected : the number of its professors 
was curtailed ; but — wherever that faith was, there it was — one 
and entire. Surely the hand of that Being, who promised to 
be with his church to the end of the world, is in this visible ; 
protecting and upholding, what I called the work of his mercv." 

" To the. other moral causes of the perpetuity of faith, must 
likewise be added, in the West, the vigilant superintendance of 
the Roman bishop ; which vigilance, as in the darker ages it be- 
came more necessary, was more active ; while his chair — with 
which all churches held an intercourse — served throughout as a 
centre of union to all. — Let me also add, as another preservative 
of unity in faith, the continued prevalence of the Latin lan- 
guage in the public service of the church. The culture of this 
language, and also that of Greece, while it prepared the chris- 
tian minister for the discharge of his public functions, preserved 
them both from extinction ; tended to give some relish for the 
learning of former days, and with it an anxiety not to let perish 
the choicest monuments of that learning ; and, should a better 
era arise, it would be at hand to aid the reviving cause of 
letters." 

" The sum of these observations, which I am compelled to 
close, may be comprised in a few words. — We believe that all the 
points of catholic faith exclusively, as likewise such other points 
as are common to us and other christian societies, were origi- 
nally taught by Christ, and by him communicated to his apos- 
tles, to whom he gave a commission to go and teach the same 
to all nations ; promising, at the same time, that he would be 
with them to the end of the world. This body of Divine truths 
those apostles, we believe, delivered — pure and unaltered, as 
they had received them — to the nations which they converted ; 
and — to those men particularly, whom they appointed to be their 
successors in the ministry. The form of teaching, ordained by 
Christ, was thus established. But, as daily, in the progress of 
time— let us say, by the end of the first century — men began to 
recede further from the days of Christ and his apostles, a neces- 
sity arose, that every preacher of the christian doctrine should 
prove to his hearers, that the points which he delivered as di- 
vine truths, were really such ; that is, were those which Christ 



conclusion. 397 

and his apostles had taught. His own word, it is plain, could 
not here suffice. He had recourse, therefore, to the aid of tes- 
timony : — to the testimony of those who had conversed with the 
apostles, and had been instructed by them, could any such be 
found ; or to such documents as they might have left : and he 
had recourse with peculiar confidence to those writings which 
now began to be circulated, and were received as authentic in 
the churches. These writings we call the books of the New 
Testament, which were then carefully preserved ; and, in their 
integrity, have been transmitted down to us." 

" Thus is the use of these scriptures at once made manifest ; 
and, as time goes on, their use in the same sense, remains ; 
while to them as an additional testimony, continue to be super- 
added the works of the fathers. These attest, century after 
century, what are the points of faith which were received, and 
were delivered. Through this channel, then, as St Paul ex- 
presses it, of receiving and delivering, all the truths taught by 
our Saviour Christ, are transmitted to us in an uninterrupted 
series by the pastors of the church ; which truths the scriptures 
confirm, while the writings of the fathers accompany and attest 
the legitimacy of their descent." 

" The following passage from Bossuet will not be foreign 
from our purpose. Reasoning with the Calvinistic minister 
Claude in a beautiful strain of eloquence, he thus proceeds : — 
" There was no time when a visible and speaking authority did 
not exist, to which submission was due. Before Jesus Christ, 
that authority, among the Jews, was in the synagogue ; when 
the synagogue was on the point of failing, Jesus Christ himself 
appeared : when this divine personage withdrew, he left a 
church, and with it his Holy Spirit. Tell me, that Jesus Christ 
once more appears upon the earth teaching, preaching and 
working miracles; I want this church no longer. But if you 
take her from me, again I must have Jesus Christ in person, 
speaking, instructing, and deciding by miracles, and with an un- 
erring authority. But has he not left, you say, his written 
word ? He has : a word holy and adorable ; but it is a word 
that may be handled and expounded as fancy shall direct ; a 
word that remains silent under every interpretation. When 
difficulties and doubts arise, then I must have some external 
guide that shall solve those difficulties, and satisfy my doubts ; 
and that guide must be unerring." Conference avec M Claude, 
p. 129. 

" I will close with the character of a catholic, as drawn in 
the fifth century by Vincent of Lerins : — " He is a true and 
genuine catholic, who loves the truth of God, his church and 
its members ; who to his religion and his faith prefers nothing 
— not the authority of any man — not wit, not eloquence, not 
philosophy ; but who looking down upon these things with in- 



398 CONCLUSION. 

difference, and firmly fixed in his belief resolves to admit and to 
adhere to that only, which from ancient times he knows to have 
been universally received*" Commonit. c. xx. p. 346. 

In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus charitas. 

By this golden rule, the intelligent reader will be enabled to 
appreciate the principles of the discordant sects enumerated in 
this Dictionary : and the Editor himself is willing to submit to 
its correction — whatever he may have incautiously advanced — 
not reconcileable with its genuine spirit. If he has, in any in- 
stance, exceeded the boundaries of charitable animadversion — 
where the erroneous maxims of fellow-christians seemed to him 
to require unqualified disapprobation, he begs permission to 
disavow, on such occasions, all personal hostility, and all in- 
tentional endeavours unnecessarily to wound their feelings. 



ERRATA. 

Read — Edinburgh, instead of British, Encyclopedia, art. Culdees. 
Wittenburg, instead of Wirtemberg, art. Luther, &c. 



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